Hollywood studios need a replacement for superheroes. With deals for "Call of Duty" and other properties, they see video games as having a big pull for younger viewers and moviegoers.

The places we dream of visiting say less about money—and more about our longing for wonder, belonging, and escape.

Californians lobbied Congress to turn the Yosemite Valley into federally protected land in the late 1800s; it became a model ...