Vancouver: After a two-year boycott of Vancouver, Warner Bros. is back in town to take advantage of the new labor agreement – brokered by the B.C. Council of Film Unions.

The third installment of the orca feature Free Willy began preproduction by setting up an office June 3. Principal photography is to begin July 30 in ocean-side areas north of Vancouver. Production manager is Warren Carr.

The last time Warner Bros. worked in Vancouver was in 1994 with the feature This Boy’s Life and the mow Beyond Betrayal.

And while it’s still early (the master agreement was ratified May 23), the expected flood of high-end production may be beginning to trickle in from the u.s.

The $70 million Disney picture Deep Rising (with Treat Williams) begins work June 12 with a wrap date of Oct. 3. The production – which will use the computer graphics wizardry of Dreamworks and involve a month-long underwater unit – is using three soundstages at The Bridge Studios.

Touchstone’s The Sixth Man (with Marlon Wayans) wraps production in Vancouver June 21.

Planned – but not yet signed – is 20th Century Fox’s Firestorm, which stars nfl football star and analyst Howie Long and is expected to begin in July.

Word also has it Vancouver production manager Fitch Cady has signed on to do a Disney feature.

Cinema verite

Not since Vancouver’s long-lamented Royal Centre Theatres closed in August 1993 have art-film goers here had a multiplex theater at which they might sport their berets.

That changes with the Fifth Avenue Cinemas, which opened its box office June 14 in a new $9 million, mixed-use commercial complex just off of Burrard Street.

Fifth Avenue’s five theaters are dedicated to art films and upscale cinematic achievements, says proprietor Leonard Schein, a veteran art-house operator with Festival Cinemas and a founder of the Vancouver International Film Festival.

‘It’s been a lot of work,’ says Schein of the development project. ‘But it will be a lot easier to keep the art scene alive in Vancouver.’

Schein is credited with helping to cultivate Vancouver’s appetite for art films. ‘The theater will allow us to play films longer because there are cost-efficiencies,’ he adds.

The inaugural slate of movies includes Sundance festival winner, Todd Solondz’s Welcome to the Dollhouse, Pen Densham’s Moll Flanders, Pedro Almodovar’s The Flower of My Secret, an Italian comedy called The Monster, and a fifth film that was not chosen at press time.

The theaters – which range in size from 103 to 355 seats, the largest with a balcony – are equipped with Dolby Digital and the latest in high-quality lenses. The lobby features a coffee bar; there are 120 free parking spaces.

Total investment for Festival Cinemas is $1.3 million, with financing arranged through banks and cash flow.

Schein and film distribution veteran Tom Lightburn, who has owned 40% of Festival Cinemas since December, will continue to operate The Varsity and The Park theaters. Estimated box office and concession revenue from Fifth Avenue is $2 million for the first year.

While June 14 marked the day the facility opened to the public, Fifth Avenue held fund-raisers for land-use advocates City Folk/Farm Folk and the Arts Club’s Stanley Theatre project on June 10 and 12 and a gala opening on June 13, when it hosted the Canadian premiere of Jane Austin’s Emma.

Committee repartee

It’s not just deja vu. An intergovernmental committee has been struck to explore options in b.c.’s film industry, an initiative that sparks memories of past roundtables and interagency confabs that had little effect.

This time, representatives from the ministries of Small Business, Tourism & Culture, Skills, Training & Labour, Education and Employment & Investment (as well as film agencies British Columbia Film and The Bridge Studios) are discussing tax credits and other issues for the indigenous film industry.

b.c. film commissioner Pete Mitchell says the first meeting was May 28 and the group’s mandate is to introduce a b.c. tax credit asap. ‘We will only be measured by our results,’ he says, meaning a successful bctc campaign.

With the newly re-elected government, no cabinet and no Treasury Board, it will be months before the bctc gets high-level hearing. The group meets monthly.

The co-ordinated industrial policy initiative will also look into b.c.’s lack of stage space, the meager flow of funding to b.c. from national agencies like Telefilm Canada and the Cable Production Fund, increased funding from British Columbia Film and the B.C. Film Commission, and job training.

The industry, meanwhile, has its own ad hoc committee meeting on the issue of the day: a b.c. tax credit. Led by Alan Moranis of Ark Films, the group includes Forefront Entertainment producer Helena Cynamon, union rep Tim Hiltz, Rainmaker exec Tom Locke, entertainment lawyer Karen Powell, the cftpa’s b.c. agent Dee Dee Pincott, and former b.c. film commissioner Dianne Neufeld.

With only one meeting under his belt, Moranis is uncomfortable talking about the group’s grand plan. The goal, however, is to establish a tax credit that doesn’t just mimic the Ontario or Nova Scotia tax credits, but takes into account b.c.’s unique film production traits.

Production notes

Over at The Bridge Studios, Cable Ace award winner The Outer Limits wrapped its second season May 29 by shooting the first episode for the third season.

The spooky anthology – which won for best dramatic series this year – has been picked up for a third and fourth season. It’s produced by Atlantis Films and Trilogy North and airs on Showtime in the u.s. and Superchannel and TMN-The Movie Network in Canada. The series will move into syndication on Fox and CanWest Global in its second window. Production resumes in August.

Sister show Poltergeist – produced by Trilogy and mgm – may have been conjuring up demons of its own when the cast was trapped in an elevator at Shaughnessy Hospital, where the series was shooting an episode involving the health remedies of Dr. Diablo.

Cell phones prevailed, and star Helen Shaver survived well enough to begin her first director’s role for an episode that went before cameras June 3.

Poltergeist, which began production on Halloween, wraps its first season in July. It’s expected to resume production for its second season in October.

Paramount’s The Sentinel series – which wrapped its first season of 12 episodes and one pilot June 14 – has been renewed for a second season of 13 episodes by Fox and upn.

Production resumes in July.

And The X-Files creator Chris Carter’s Millennium series begins production July 24 for a first order of 13 episodes from Fox.