Etobicoke could soon be the movie capital of Canada
It's no secret that Toronto had been killing it on the film production scene lately.
Last year alone, investors spent more than $2 billion in the city making movies and TV shows like Stephen King's It, American Gods, and xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, up from a record $1.5 billion in 2015.
Word of Toronto's high-quality crews, friendly politicians and ability to look like New York has gotten around in recent years, inspiring more and more Americans who are looking north (er, northeast) to shoot.
Unfortunately, downtown Toronto doesn't exactly have an abundant supply of space. Executives say that, because of this, demand for studios is now outstripping supply.
Enter Etobicoke.
"My company has had to turn away at least 10 projects in calendar year 2017 so far because of lack of studio space in Toronto," said Cinespace Film Studios vice-president Jim Mirkopoulos to The Star this week.
So, to counter this problem, they're building two new studios that will bring a total of 50,000 square feet in additional production space to (just outside) the area.
Cinespace Event celebrating 50k of new Studio Space. BIG THANKS to @JohnTory @PaulaFletcher30 @CineSoccerDadx6 pic.twitter.com/txZ12YY9Ba
— Jonathan Ahee (@JonathanAhee) September 7, 2017
Cinespace, which is the largest private operator of space for film, TV and digital media production in North America, already owns a large, west-end studio near Kipling. This is where The Handmaid's Tale was filmed.
The company says that it will build its new "Titan Studios" on the Kipling campus, which opened in 2009 to handle overspill from it's 20-year-old Eastern and Carlaw complex.
Mayor John Tory announced the project with Cinespace executives at a groundbreaking ceremony today, where he praised the company "for responding to the industry demand for studio space."
"When I go out selling our film industry, the one concern I hear repeatedly is the shortage of studio space," Tory said in a release. "That's why today's announcement is so important."
Important indeed. According to the company, the multi-million-dollar expansion will also result in Toronto getting a large, permanent underwater filming tank.
Cinespace Studios
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