Hamilton’s Bayfront film studio is up and running
Hamilton's new film studio has opened for business.
Aeon Studio Group has fixed up the former AVL Manufacturing plant on Queen Street North and it is now open for filming and movie making.
One of its first clients is expected to be a Hollywood blockbuster when it hits theatres - the remake of Firestarter" starring Zac Efron, Michael Greyeyes and Ryan Kiera Armstrong (who plays Charlie, a girl with pyrokinetic powers).
The production was at the Aeon Bayfront Studio last week. Firestarter," based on the Stephen King supernatural thriller, first came to the screen in 1984 starring Drew Barrymore (as Charlie), George C. Scott and David Keith (who had Efron's role as Charlie's dad).
The new version has been filmed all over the area, turning up in Ancaster, Dundas, Flamborough, Burlington and different parts of Hamilton.
The new studio was promised by Aeon in December, with an expected opening in February.
It's the first step of a proposed film and TV production hub on 14-acres of city-owned land that is bounded by Queen Street, Barton Street and Tiffany Street. It was once eyed for the city's new stadium, which went up where Ivor Wynne used to stand in the east end. The hub is anticipated to create more than a thousand new jobs.
Aeon company officials did not return messages seeking comment but it did post videos on its Facebook page in March of workers painting the interior of the studio.
Ward 2 Coun. Jason Farr was excited by the new film studio in his ward. The studio is just south of the CN Stuart yard.
It's the biggest studio facility in Hamilton (80,000-square-feet) and it has one of only a handful of stages in the province that are 25,000 + square feet with 40 feet + ceilings," Farr said in an email. More studio facilities in Hamilton (are) coming."
Kim Adrovez, senior project manager at the Hamilton Film Office, says the city has a number of industrial warehouse studio spaces as well as standing sets.
Some examples include Hamilton Film Studios, Skylight Studios, Aeon Bayfront Studios and Evil Empire Studios," she said.
There is also The Cotton Factory and Digital Canaries Film Studios, which is based on Gage Avenue North but offers half a dozen locations around the city to filmmakers such as two former schools and an locale on Hillyard Street.
Digital Canaries has been posting pictures on Instagram over the last couple of months of crews building new sets, including a police interrogation room, a jail, courtroom and the interior of a plane.
Digital Canaries has hosted such productions as Netflix's sci-fi horror V-Wars" in 2019 and a drama pilot in 2017 for CBS called Perfect Citizen" that starred Noah Wyle and Kristen Chenoweth.
Hamilton filmmaker Scott Newman also filmed some of his spy-fi submarine thriller Hell or Tide Water" (2020) at the studio.
The city says there are over 900 Hamilton-based film businesses, employing about 9,000 people.
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If the street seen in the recent Lotto Max commercial looks familiar to you it's because it was filmed in downtown Dundas.
The premise is that Dream Coach Max is standing on the roof of a building and announcing a multi-million dollar jackpot to business people down below, on the other side of the street.
If you know Dundas, you will recognize that part of King Street West, between Cross and Ogilvie streets, across from Grafton Square.
The commercial is 31 seconds, but if you look quickly you will see the signs for Modella Ladies Wear and Taylor's Tea Room. One of the business people is a baker, but there is no bakery in that part of town.
There have been other commercials shot in Dundas in years past, including a Pepsi commercial outside the historic town hall.
There was a commercial being made in the region last week. Bell Canada was filming at Kelso Conservation Area in Milton on June 23.
Daniel Nolan is a freelance writer who writes about film for The Hamilton Spectator. He can be reached at dannolanwrites@gmail.com