Montreal: Two Hollywood-based companies and a Montreal investor group have announced plans to build a $40-million studio complex in suburban Candiac, QC, about 20 minutes from downtown Montreal.

Billed as a Hollywood-style motion-picture studio specializing in physical and special F/X, WonderWorks Montreal Studios will be a 210,000-square-foot complex, with the capacity to subdivide into four soundstages, including an enclosed 100,000-square-foot mega-soundstage. Construction is slated to start next month, with the opening pegged for April or May 2003.

Not only do the promoters plan to establish a state-of-the-art dedicated F/X studio with a permanent 10-ton motion-control crane and in-house departments for the design and construction of models and miniatures, they have also announced plans to produce $40 million or more in film and TV annually.

WonderWorks Montreal is a partnership between entrepreneurs David Smith and David Koenka, who control 60% of the venture (and are partners in Smith+Koenka Architects, a La Prairie, QC architectural firm, which is designing the new studio), and two L.A.-based operations – WonderWorks Entertainment Group, including executives John Palmer (president) and Brick Price, and Avondale Pictures, which includes director and partner Christopher Bremble – which share the other 40%. Palmer will serve as WonderWorks Montreal’s CFO.

Koenka says Accuprime Group, a Dallas, TX-based lender and mortgage company, and new player in the film industry, is providing up to $30 million in financing for the Candiac studio construction and will also provide WonderWorks Montreal with a credit line of up to $35 million in production financing. WonderWorks Montreal will put up $4 million and WonderWorks Entertainment in L.A. will invest the equivalent of $6 million in specialized studio equipment.

Koenka says the U.S. partners have already lined up $30 million in projects in time for the new studio opening next spring, including a two-year, $20-million F/X TV series and a number of smaller feature film projects.

Impressive client list

WonderWorks Entertainment is a privately held company and has produced models and miniatures, props and sets for the film and aerospace industries. Its client list includes NASA, Steven Spielberg, Lucasfilm, Disney, Universal Studios and museums such as the Smithsonian.

Major motion-picture credits include Back to the Future, Star Trek I, II and III, The Abyss, Apollo 13 and Armageddon. The 25-year-old company also designs theme parks.

Koenka says the new studio will feature two 180-degree cycloramas at each end of the complex and smaller cycs in the middle soundstages. There will also be extensive ancillary space for production offices, camera and equipment storage, and costume and makeup rooms.

The complex will house a 100,000-gallon water tank (40′ x 30′ x 12′) with lighting and a full blue-screen cyc. The pool will have optical glass siding, allowing filmmakers to shoot both inside and outside, says Koenka.

The complex will be built on four million square feet of land, which contains forested areas and a lake, with the potential for major back-lot installations.

Koenka says the Montreal film and TV promotion and services industry supports the new studio project.

‘They realize it is going to bring more work into Montreal.’

‘Build away’

The industry was to some extent caught off guard by WonderWorks Montreal’s late August announcement, although City of Montreal Film Commissioner Andre Lafond had been told of the plans three years ago.

Certainly earlier this year, Montreal studio promoters had made it clear to the commissioner the city did not need additional studio space.

Asked if Montreal needs more studios, Comweb (Cine Cite Montreal) president Paul Bronfman says, ‘Sure, build away. Every city in the world lacks studios. When it rains it pours.’

Mel’s Cite du Cinema president Mel Hoppenheim also welcomes the new competition, although Koenka says WonderWorks plans to use camera and lighting equipment supplied by Locations Michel Trudel and Moliflex-White.

In an interview with CBC, Hoppenheim said Montreal specifically needs a dedicated special F/X studio, ‘the remaining piece of the puzzle.’

Quebec Finance Minister Pauline Marois attended the WonderWorks Montreal press conference launch. The minister said there would be no special assistance from government for the new studio other than existing programs.

‘The American film industry’s interest in Quebec is closely tied to the fiscal incentives extended by the government as well as the quality of our specialized labor force,’ added Marois.

-www.wonderworksweb.com