In the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, Tanis was said to be the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant which was hidden in a secret chamber called the Well of Souls. Tanis was inaccurately depicted as having been destroyed in a sand storm and buried until 1936 when it was discovered by a German expedition outside Cairo. In fact, Tanis was the site of numerous archaeological digs beginning in the 19th century, involving Flinders Petrie and Auguste Mariette.
In the film Pandorum,
Earth - in the year 2174 - has grown overpopulated and humanity has
fought over the last natural resources. In a desperate attempt to
preserve the human race, 60,000 people are sent in a massive ship called
Elysium to colonize the only known Earth-like planet named Tanis.
In the novel The World's Desire by H. Rider Haggard, Tanis is the principal location of the action.
