The Bridge Studios fills gap with spots

Due to a project cancellation, Vancouver’s The Bridge Studios reports a slower summer than usual.

‘Normally we are 100% full, but right now we’re at 80%,’ says Ron Hrynuik, The Bridge’s operations manager. ‘So we are filling in the gaps with commercials.’

But at press time, word came in that Blade: Trinity (New Line Cinema) starring Wesley Snipes has moved in, eyeing a likely late-summer shoot. The Bridge is also currently hosting 13 eps of the MGM series Dead Like Me, plus a season of Stargate SG-1. MGM’s Jeremiah returns from hiatus in the fall. Meanwhile, the facility’s 40,000-square-foot John Thomas Special Effects Stage has been used by Miramax’s Scary Movie 3 for F/X, aerobatics and green-screen sequences.

-www.bridgestudios.com

Raining cats and dogs at Lions Gate

Vancouver’s Lions Gate Studios is having a busy summer, according to studio VP/GM Peter Leitch.

‘We [will be] providing stage space to Warner Bros. for Catwoman, starring Halle Berry, [and have done so for] Warner Bros.’ Scooby Too: Monsters Unleashed and Miramax’s Scary Movie 3,’ he says. Lions Gate is also facilitating two new Fox series, Tru Calling and Still Life.

To date, the Canadian TV funding crunch hasn’t affected Lions Gate, says Leitch, since ‘we generally cater to large U.S.-based productions.’

Lions Gate has built two new stages in the past two years, both of which are 20,500 square feet with 40-foot clear ceilings.

-www.lionsgatefilms.com

Sci-fi aplenty at VFS

At Vancouver Film Studios, ‘summer bookings have been strong,’ says VFS SVP and GM Pete Mitchell.

VFS is currently hosting the sci-fi flick I, Robot (20th Century Fox) with Will Smith, while Paycheck (Paramount Pictures) with Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman has just wrapped. The US$20-million Alone in the Dark (Artisan Entertainment), starring Christian Slater and based on a video game, is presently in production.

To keep up with this volume, VFS added two new stages in 2003. Studios H and I are each 15,000 square feet in size, with a 40-foot clearspan. Last year, VFS built stages A1 and A2, which feature similar specs.

-www.vancouverfilmstudios.com

MOWs take over CFB West

Calgary’s CFB West ‘is extremely busy this summer and all of our facilities are booked full until the end of August,’ says CFB director of leasing Peggy Telfer.

Taking advantage of the former military base’s outdoor locations is TNT’s Word of Honor, a Vietnam War flick starring Don Johnson. Also filming at CFB are the CBS MOWs Twelve Mile Road with Tom Selleck and Surviving Love with Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen. On the feature side, Warner Bros.’ The Lazarus Child, starring Angela Bassett and Andy Garcia, is also using the facility.

Two of CFB’s five hangars are currently being rented out to productions.

-www.cfbstudios.com

Showline shifts focus to commercials

Toronto’s Showline Harbourside Studios is still recovering from SARS – not the illness itself, but the business slowdown inspired by the fear of it.

‘People have been canceling out or not booking,’ explains Showline president Peter Lukas. As a result, he adds, business is down 40% relative to last year.

That said, Showline’s stages are still busy with commercial shoots. At press time, spots for McDonald’s, Sears, ScotchBrite, Crest and Glade were in production. ‘Basically, it’s major brands that we do,’ Lukas says.

Feature films that have recently shot at Showline include How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (Paramount Pictures) and The In-Laws (Warner Bros.).

-www.showlinestudios.com

Cinespace busy despite SARS

Despite losing Miramax’s Shall We Dance? to Winnipeg due to SARS fears, Toronto’s Cinespace Studios is still having a busy summer. Its feature film projects include Resident Evil II: Apocalypse (Screen Gems) with Milla Jovovich, skedded to begin in August, the currently shooting Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (Disney) with Hilary Duff, and New York Minute (Warner Bros.), starring the Olsen Twins.

For the small screen, Cinespace has hosted PAX TV’s Doc with Billy Ray Cyrus and Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye and is currently doing so for Wonderfalls for Fox.

‘During the recent slowdown we have upgraded our existing facilities,’ says Cinespace president Nick Mirkopoulos. ‘We have just completed 180,000 square feet of new studio and support space.’

-www.cinespace.com

TFS looks to series

Toronto Film Studios is also coping with SARS.

‘In the summer we normally have about four feature films, but presently we are only accommodating two,’ says TFS president Ken Ferguson. ‘We have been fortunate to have replaced that lost volume of business with television series.’

Presently at TFS are The WB’s Tarzan and Jane, Lifetime’s 1-800 Missing and Wild Card, as well as CBC’s reborn The Newsroom.

TFS’ aircraft interior standing sets have also helped. The feature Welcome to Mooseport (20th Century Fox), starring Gene Hackman and Ray Romano, used ‘one of our luxury private jet mockups,’ Ferguson says. Meanwhile, The Prince & the Freshman (Paramount Pictures) with Julia Stiles and Susan Sarandon has been using the Airbus A-310 set.

TFS has recently purchased the adjacent Cinevillage broadcast studio, home to Alliance Atlantis’ specialty channels.

-www.torontofilmstudios.com

Cine Cite hosts Montreal-set thriller

Cine Cite Montreal is experiencing a slower-than-average season, which it attributes to CTF funding cuts.

‘Usually Montreal is much busier with local production,’ says studio VP of business development Martin Fontaine. There is nonetheless some big Hollywood production booked, namely the Warner Bros. film Taking Lives, starring Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke. The drama is about an FBI profiler who helps local authorities track a serial killer in Montreal.

Cine Cite now has a 60′ x 40′ x 16′ deep-water tank installed in Studio C. It was built for Paramount Pictures’ Timeline, which recently shot at the facility.

-www.cinecitemontreal.com

Everybody comes to Mel’s

Slowdown? Quel slowdown?

The stages at Mel’s Cite du Cinema/Technoparc Studios in Montreal are ‘quite busy right now,’ says marketing director Simon Trottier. Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator (Warner Bros./Miramax/IEG), starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a young Howard Hughes, is currently in production under Mel’s roof. The film also stars Cate Blanchett as the late Katherine Hepburn and Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner.

Also shooting at Mel’s: Sony’s Secret Window with Johnny Depp, the indie Slow Burn with Ray Liotta and LL Cool J, and Arclight Films’ The Last Sign with Andie MacDowell. Ringo Lam’s actioner After Death, with Jean-Claude Van Damme, recently wrapped.

-www.citeducinema.com

Electropolis charged by local prods

Halifax’s Electropolis Motion Picture Studios is currently working on parent company Salter Street Films’ stop-motion animation series Poko. Meanwhile, Big Motion Pictures’ Political Animals, a six-ep series of one-hour dramas for CBC, is due to ‘begin using the soundstages in August,’ says Rob Power, who oversees the studio as well as Salter Street Digital.

Overall, Power reports that summer bookings ‘have been okay.’ Electropolis is also providing production office space for BMP’s A Guy and a Girl, a 13-part series shooting on location.

-www.electropolis-studios.com