Cinespace Film Studios is a group of film studio facilities in the US and Canada. It was founded in 1988 by Greek-Canadian Nick Mirkopoulos. The studio started with a facility in Vaughan, a suburb of Toronto, which had been in operation since the 1960s. Current studios include facilities in Toronto, a branch in Chicago (Cinespace Chicago Film Studios) founded in 2007 with Mirkopoulos's nephew, Alex Pissios, and facilities in Atlanta and Wilmington, NC acquired in 2023 from EUE/Screen Gems. In 2022, TPG Real Estate Partners acquired the Studio Babelsberg facilities in Potsdam-Babelsberg and merged them into Cinespace.
Studios
Kipling Avenue Studios
The company acquired a campus at 777 Kipling Avenue in Toronto's Etobicoke area in 2009.
At the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, Mayor of Toronto John Tory joined with Cinespace officials to announce plans to build two very large new studios on the site, with a combined footprint of . One of the large studios will be permanently devoted to underwater filming.
+Selected Feature Films Film Links Year Resident Evil: Retribution 2012 The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones 2013 Pacific Rim 2013 Pompeii 2014 xXx: Return of Xander Cage 2017 Flatliners 2017
Television Series Beauty & the Beast (2012–2016) Black Mirror Condor Conviction (2016) Falling Water Good Witch Reign (2013–2017) Taken The Handmaid's Tale The Umbrella Academy Titans Locke & Key
Kleinburg Toronto International Studios is a film studio that was established in Kleinburg, Ontario in the 1950s. Its geo-coordinates are .
Cinespace moved out of the studios and upgraded to the Vaughan Sports Center in 2015, a baseball training complex.
+Selected Films Film links Year The Hired Gun 1957 The Fox 1967 The First Time 1969 The Reincarnate 1971 Mahoney's Estate 1972 Recommendation for Mercy 1975 Death Weekend 1976 Silver Streak 1976 Equus 1977 Rituals 1977 Welcome to Blood City 1977 Riel 1979 H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come 1979 Fish Hawk 1980 Virus 1980 The Amateur 1981 Class of 1984 1982 The Wars 1983 Strange Brew 1983 Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird 1985 The Fly 1986 Love at Stake 1987 Divided Loyalties 1990 The Good Son 1993 To Die For 1995 Murder at 1600 1997 Dick 1999 The Sentinel 2006 Casino Jack 2010
+Selected television films TV movie links Year The Day Reagan Was Shot 2001 The Brady Bunch in the White House 2002
+Selected television shows TV links Year Hudson's Bay 1959 The Forest Rangers 1963–1966 Hatch's Mill 1967 The Adventures of Timothy Pilgrim 1975 The Littlest Hobo 1979-1985 You Can't Do That on Television 1979-1990 Matt and Jenny 1979-1980 Fraggle Rock 1983-1987 Shining Time Station 1991-1996 The Doodlebops 2005-2007 The Big Comfy Couch 2006
Chicago
Cinespace Chicago Film Studios opened for business in 2011 and Alex Pissios, the president and CEO of the company, worked with his uncle, Nick Mirkopoulos, to establish the Studios in Chicago. Mirkopoulos and Pissios purchased 60 acres of the former Ryerson Steel complex in the Windy City's North Lawndale neighborhood. The Studios are the largest independent movie studios outside of Los Angeles.
The studios have continued to expand and now have 36 sound stages. Pissios and Cinespace Chicago Film Studios were featured in the December 2019 Chicago Magazine and highlighted the success and influence the studio has had on the film industry in Chicago. Cinespace Chicago Film Studios, is the “Hollywood of the Midwest,” bringing more than 15,000 jobs in digital media and education opportunities to the community and region by revitalizing a depressed neighborhood. Cinespace Chicago has been instrumental in infusing billions of dollars of revenue into the city and the state of Illinois.
Its campus has been the nexus for over 40 major productions used to film multiple television series and feature films, including: Chicago Med Chicago Fire Chicago PD Chicago Justice Empire Shameless Utopia Next Mixtape Jack's Big Music Show The Chi Fargo The Exorcist Sense8 Patriot APB Proven Innocent Night Sky Zoobiquity + Selected Feature FilmsFilm LinksYearNotesTransformers: Dark of the Moon2011Divergent2014Captive State2017Rampage2017Widows2018Proud Mary2018
The studio is planned to have 36 sound stages on its 2 million square foot main campus in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhoods. Additional studios have been under construction at 31st and Kedzie. In addition to studio space, Cinespace Chicago Film Studios houses numerous production offices and support spaces as well as production tenants.
Cinespace partnered with DePaul University's film school in 2013 to house student classrooms, two interactive stages, faculty offices, lounges, and equipment vaults. Ranked in the top 25 film schools nationwide, DePaul University's School of Cinematic Arts program teaches aspiring producers and creatives about all aspects of television and film production.
Since its inception, Cinespace has brought in more than $3 billion in film-related spending to Chicago.
References