A FLICKER OF LAS VEGAS

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This summer, adventurous moviegoers will visit exotic destinations from "Shrek the Third’s" Far, Far Away to "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End."

Perhaps none will be more exotic than Las Vegas.

Before summer’s end, three highly hyped releases will hit theaters, showcasing such Southern Nevada locations as the glittering Strip (in the caper sequel "Ocean’s Thirteen" and the raucous comedy "Knocked Up") and Hoover Dam, which is visited by the futuristic "Transformers."

Yet moviegoers won’t be seeing quite as much of Las Vegas as they think.

"Ocean’s Thirteen" did film in the summer and fall from a variety of Strip locations, including Bellagio and The Venetian, to a Glitter Gulch pawnshop, but a majority of the action takes place on a Southern California soundstage.

"We built a casino at Warner Brothers, on the (studio) back lot," explains "Ocean’s Thirteen" producer Jerry Weintraub. "It was beautiful — we hated to take it down."

Weintraub, whose four-decade showbiz career includes associations with such showroom icons as Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, has no trouble getting permission to shoot in Las Vegas.

After all, in addition to 2001’s "Ocean’s Eleven," he also produced 1997’s "Vegas Vacation," which also filmed throughout Southern Nevada.

"I’ve been here for 40 years, and I know everyone in town," Weintraub points out. And while several "Ocean’s Thirteen" exteriors feature genuine Vegas vistas, the movie’s star-packed cast — which includes George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Al Pacino, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle and Andy Garcia — makes it "difficult to shoot here," Weintraub says. "Not just here, in Pittsburgh."

All of which makes "Ocean’s Thirteen" a win-and-lose proposition, according to Charles Geocaris, who heads the Nevada Film Office, the state agency that assists productions filming in the Silver State — and tries to bring more of them here.

By filming most of its scenes on a Southern California soundstage, "Ocean’s Thirteen" echoes such hit TV series as CBS’ "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and NBC’s "Las Vegas," which are set in Las Vegas but rarely film here.

"Tourismwise and visibilitywise, people figure it’s all shot here," Geocaris says, resulting in "a situation where viewers are going to think it’s a casino — and will call to find out where it is." (He recalls a "CSI" episode that featured a pancake house with topless servers — which prompted numerous inquiries to the film office from viewers eager to patronize the place.)

Despite the extensive casino set for "Ocean’s Thirteen," "there’s some things in Vegas you can’t capture anywhere else" but Las Vegas, executive producer Susie Ekins acknowledged during one of the movie’s Vegas visits. "You have to have some element of Vegas exteriors to make a believable movie."

Getting away from the Strip, "Transformers" transports audiences to another top Southern Nevada destination, Hoover Dam, for its tale of battling alien armies, inspired by the Hasbro toys of the ’80s and the subsequent TV cartoon.

The movie’s stars, including "Disturbia’s" Shia LaBeouf and "Las Vegas" regular Josh Duhamel, filmed at Hoover Dam in June under the direction of Michael Bay ("Armageddon," "Pearl Harbor"). Bay previously shot part of 2005’s sci-fi actioner "The Island" in Rhyolite and the Amargosa Valley.

"Michael Bay runs a wild set," LaBeouf says. "We had to do a lot of running." (Hey, that’s what happens when Autobots and the Decepticons are trying to blast each other into oblivion — and humans are trying to get out of the way.)

And being one of the few post-Sept. 11 movies "to film in the guts of the dam shows you the power of Michael Bay," LaBeouf adds.

"Transformers" was scheduled to shoot atop the dam, on the roadway, in parking areas and inside, near the generators. But the regular business of the dam — generating electricity and hosting tours — continued during the Hollywood invasion.

"Anybody that shoots at the dam has to work around us," Bob Walsh, spokesman for the Bureau of Reclamation’s Boulder City office, said at the time.

And while "there’s always some disruption" during movie and TV shoots, "we turn them down if there’s going to be a (major) disruption."

Rounding out the summer’s trio of hits featuring Las Vegas locations: "Knocked Up." From some of the wonderful folks who brought you 2005’s "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" — including writer-director Judd Apatow and stars Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd — the movie is expected to generate equal laughs (and box office dollars).

"Knocked Up’s" brief Las Vegas stopover in August captured Rogen’s and Rudd’s characters — who hit the road to Vegas "to blow off steam after arguments with their mates," according to producer Clayton Townsend.

During their visit, they get lap dances, do some mushrooms (which definitely affects their response to Cirque du Soleil’s trippy "Mystere" at Treasure Island), hang out at the Aladdin (now Planet Hollywood Resort) pool and ponder the variety of chairs in their room-with-a-Strip view.

There’s even a Siegfried & Roy joke.

This summer’s trio joins two made-in-Vegas movies already in theaters.

"Next," which opened April 27, features Nicolas Cage as a showroom magician blessed (and cursed) with the ability to see, and affect, the future. Last July’s two-day shoot ranged from the Fremont Street Experience to Red Rock Canyon.

"Lucky You," by contrast, spent two months on location in Las Vegas for its tale of a poker player (Eric Bana) romancing a wannabe lounge singer (Drew Barrymore) and challenging his estranged father (Robert Duvall) at the World Series of Poker. It had the bad luck to arrive in theaters last weekend, opening opposite a minor trifle titled "Spider-Man 3."

Unlike many movies that shoot here but never stray from the Strip, "Lucky You" captures a wider range of locations, from downtown landmarks to Summerlin suburbs.

That was deliberate, according to "Lucky You" director Curtis Hanson.

"We were trying to show the world of the city," reflecting the main character’s perspective as a longtime Las Vegan, Hanson said. "We wanted to contrast that with the new things."

Considering its underwhelming box office performance (it opened in sixth place last weekend, with a $2.7 million take), "Lucky You" probably will fold its cards soon, especially with high-profile summer releases flooding theaters from now until Labor Day. And "Next" isn’t doing much better, racking up $11.9 million in its first two weeks of release.

Though "Lucky You" and "Next" might soon depart, DVD is forever.

Although "seeing Vegas on the big screen" makes a big difference to audiences," Geocaris says, even a box office flop like "Lucky You" will have lasting impact once it arrives on home video, because "it brings a lot of attention to us as a production center."