Their 100-year-old Fenway Park has a prominent role in the hit comedy Ted (which opened to $54 million last weekend), following recent roles in 2011's Moneyball and 2010's The Town.
"When it comes to making a ballpark a Hollywood star, Boston has seized the market," says sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy, author of Fenway: A Biography in Words and Pictures.
In Ted, Seth MacFarlane's foul-mouthed talking teddy bear takes refuge from a kidnapper inside Fenway, even scaling the famous 37-foot left-field wall, the Green Monster.
Producer Jason Clark says the ballpark, which opened in 1912, was the best location for the film's climax. "We couldn't have ended the movie in a better way. When you are doing a Boston movie and trying to capture the spirit of the place, Fenway is so intertwined. It's almost a requirement that you honor one of the city's great cathedrals."
Perhaps the most famous scene honoring the park was from 1989's Field of Dreams, in which Kevin Costner's ultimate baseball romantic character takes a reclusive writer (James Earl Jones) for an inspirational game at Fenway.
Darren Michaels, 20th Century Fox
Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon in 2005's 'Fever Pitch,' in which Fenway Park was one of the central locations. “Being on the field was one of the highlights of my life. If you get a chance to shoot there, you do it," says director Peter Farrelly.
After making several cameo appearances in the 1990s, the park was featured in the adaptation of 2005's Fever Pitch, a romantic comedy centered on a baseball obsessed fan (Jimmy Fallon). The film was originally supposed to be set around the Chicago Cubs, but when New Englanders Peter and Bobby Farrelly signed on to direct the project, they moved the location to their beloved Fenway.
"For anyone from New England, Fenway is sort of heaven," says Peter Farrelly. "Being on the field wa s one of the highlights of my life. If you get a chance to shoot there, you do it."
Red Sox Nation is an influential Hollywood force that includes producer Tom Werner as the team's chairman and features unflagging supporters such as Ted star Mark Wahlberg, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Denis Leary and Stephen King.
Affleck directed, co-wrote and starred in The Town, about an armed concessions heist at the stadium. The action caper required intricate precautions and planning around the baseball team's schedule.
But Sam Kennedy, the Red Sox's chief operating officer, says the team's ownership is aware of how powerful the park's portrayal in movies can be in expanding the already-rabid fan base.
"We'd be in staff meetings, and there would be gunshots going off. It lasted for weeks," says Kennedy of The Town's action scenes "While it presents a logistical challenge for a time, it's far outweighed by the international exposure your ballpark gets."
Even if there are no plans for further filming, the park stands ready: "With the Green Monster, the design, the shape," says Peter Farrelly, "it's just a beautiful piece of art."
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