Box-office-topping sci-fi actioner Resident Evil: Apocalypse, an 80/20 Canada/U.K. copro, not only shot in Toronto, but also gave several Canuck shops the chance to show their stuff on the film’s extensive FX. The likes of Mr. X, C.O.R.E Digital Pictures and Frantic Films contributed towards Canada’s 60% FX quota on the Resident Evil sequel, which has heroine Alice (Milla Jovovich) on the run from the evil Umbrella Corp.’s Nemesis creation in Raccoon City, a town of zombies.

Toronto’s Mr. X contributed more than 250 FX to the film, including miniatures such as a 44-foot replica of Umbrella’s HQ, which it subsequently blew up, and one-eighth-scale model helicopters that it also destroyed. Because of the flick’s many dangerous stunts, the studio superimposed Jovovich’s face onto the body of a stunt double for several sequences and also animated Nemesis’ face from a prosthetic mask created by cross-town Paul Jones Effects Studio. Mr. X also provided 44 screen design shots and contributed to the film’s explosive finale.

Winnipeg’s Frantic Films provided 78 FX shots, including tracer fire, muzzle flashes, laser beams, actor removal and slow motion, using eyeon Digital Fusion, 3ds max and Deadline (Frantic’s proprietary render-manager software).

Toronto’s C.O.R.E. says its most challenging assignment on the film was constructing a CG creature called the Licker, a gig it won out over other local studios that also submitted tests. C.O.R.E. also augmented and added CG gore to a group of zombie Doberman pinschers as well as in the climactic atomic blast sequence.

-www.mrxfx.com

-www.franticfilms.com

-www.coredigital.com