Its true—Supergirl’s Melissa Benoist will be flying from Los Angeles to Vancouver.
Youthful energy has been filling up Vancouver production scene and, consequently, this week’s roundup as well.
From saving superheroes to saving the future, here’s a look at what’s in town (or coming to shoot on a street near you) these days.
First things first: to follow up on the rumours we previously mentioned, yes, Supergirl has been saved, by none other than—it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…Vancouver!
In one of the industry’s not-so-secret secrets, Vancouver became reported as a possible future shooting location for the struggling series.
Season 2 of Supergirl will relocate from Los Angeles to Vancouver to help cut costs (due to the cheaper Canadian dollar and film tax incentives here). The series is also relocating from CBS to the CW (which also shoots superhero series Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow in our city as well).
Supergirl will be joining other superhero series shot in the city such as Arrow and The Flash.
Cast member David Harewood, who plays J’onn J’onzz (also known as Martian Manhunter), tweeted out the good news.
22 episode order. Vancouver. CW. Details to come.#season2#off2bed#Johannesburg 👍🏾👽
— David Harewood (@DavidHarewood) May 12, 2016
The series stars Melissa Benoist as the caped crusader. Will she acclimatize to the city by shedding her red-and-blue costume for lululemon gear? We’ll have to wait and see.
Among the cast—who will presumably be joining Benoist in Vancouver—are Mehcad Brooks (Desperate Housewives), Chyler Leigh (Grey’s Anatomy), and Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal).
If you hear screaming, don’t panic: Ross Lynch is coming here to shoot Status Update.
Moving on to another character with superpowers, another youth gains new-fangled abilities in a comedy feature that focuses on something we’re all quite connected to: social media.
In Status Update, directed by Scott Speer (Step Up Revolution), Teen Beach Movie star Ross Lynch will play a high-schooler named Kyle who discovers a magical app that causes his status updates on social media to become reality. Kyle goes from outsider to popular hero—until he loses his powers.
Lynch will star along with Olivia Holt (I Didn’t Do It). There’ll also be some real-life romance on the set as well as Lynch’s girlfriend Courtney Eaton (Mad Max: Fury Road) will costar as well.
Australia’s Courtney Eaton will be joining her boyfriend as a cast member of Status Update.
If you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of the shoot, the production gets underway on June 13 and wraps up on July 15.
Speaking of finishing up, the Power Rangers movie, which stars Naomi Scott, Latin American pop-rap star Becky G., RJ Cyler, Ludi Lin, and Elizabeth Banks, is scheduled to end shooting in Vancouver on May 25.
Fans will have to wait a year to see Latino pop-rap star Becky G. in the Power Rangers movie.
Unfortunately, fans will have a long wait to see the final product—the film won’t hit screens until March 24, 2017.
Around the same time, another movie, Hot Street, is also hanging up its dancing shoes.
Directed by Demi Zhang (who also stars in the film) and Ralph Zondag, the film follows the story of children of Chinese immigrants to Canada who manage to make social inroads into their new homeland through the power of dance.
Demi Zhang codirects and stars in the Chinese Canadian movie Hot Street.
And just as some shoots may be coming to an end, a film-industry announcement indicates that there may be potentially more productions here in the future than usual.
Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner announced that Hollywood production company Skydance Media (Star Trek, Mission Impossible) will open up a five-stage sound studio in the Vancouver suburb. It will be able to accommodate a production staff of up to 400 people.
The studio, located at 88 Avenue and Scott Road in Surrey, B.C., is already scheduled to produce a 10-episode Netflix series called Altered Carbon, based on a 2002 cyberpunk novel in which the human mind has been digitized and can be uploaded from one body to another.
With the future coming to town in so many forms, from youth stars to sci-fi productions, Vancouver’s future is so bright, be forewarned: if you’re planning to visit, don’t forget to bring your shades.
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