Revival 629 reveals expansion plans

The Toronto studio is adding a 7,500 square-foot space for the production of music videos, TV commercials and VR.

Toronto’s Revival 629 Film Studios has unveiled plans to expand its studio capacity with the construction of a 7,500 square-foot space dedicated to producing VR, music videos and TV commercials.

The new studio, Revival XP, will be built on the studio’s current plot of land and is scheduled to be up and running by July 2017, according to a press release issued by Revival. The new facility will have 40-foot ceilings, green walls and lighting grids, as well as 1,500 square-feet support space. Revival XP will lease the studio to projects on a short-term basis.

The announcement comes as Mayor John Tory and a group of 22 Toronto-based companies return from a three-day business mission in Los Angeles. Part of the message delivered to L.A. studios by Tory and his delegation was that the city does in fact have additional production capacity and that Toronto is working to increase the amount of studio space available to U.S. TV and film projects.

“Not only will this new studio help fulfill the high demand for production space in the city – it is also uniquely designed for higher-frequency short-term use,” said Tory in a statement announcing RevivalXP. Following last year’s mission to L.A., Tory said the city is working with the film and TV industry to identify city-owned assets that can be used for expanding Toronto’s production capacity.

Revival 629 is one of Canada’s largest studio operations, spanning 11 locations (240,000 square foot in total) and 18.5 acres of land. Recent projects hosted by Revival include CBC and Netflix miniseries Alias Grace and feature film Suicide Squad.

Revival is jointly owned by real estate company SmartREIT and real estate investor Mitchell Goldhar.