Call it the Hollywood of Vancouver Island!
With mountain views and historic colonial-style charm, picturesque Victoria continues to draw in movie executives and appear on the big screen.
BC’s capital can be seen in Hollywood hits like Bird on a Wire (1990) and Little Women (1994), as well as the X-Men and Deadpool franchises and comedy classics like Scary Movie (2000) and White Chicks (2004).
But it’s no secret the city’s film credit list is lengthy, as seen on IMDb and the Vancouver Island South Film and Media Commission’s interactive film location map.
In 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the commission reported new productions resulted in a record $55 million in direct spending into the local economy.
More recently, Netflix’s Rescued by Ruby, released to the streaming platform just last month, was filmed around town, including at the CRD Animal Shelter near Elk Lake.
Without further ado, here are 10 blockbusters filmed in and around Victoria:
Deadpool (2016)
- Filming location: Hatley Castle
- Synopsis: A wisecracking mercenary gets experimented on and becomes immortal but ugly, and sets out to track down the man who ruined his looks.
- Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller
- Director: Tim Miller
- Box office: $782.6 million
The Boy (2016)
- Filming location: Craigdarroch Castle
- Synopsis: An American nanny is shocked that her new English family’s boy is actually a life-sized doll. After she violates a list of strict rules, disturbing events make her believe that the doll is really alive.
- Starring: Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans
- Director: William Brent Bell
- Box office: $64.2 million
Descendants (2015)
- Filming location: Hatley Castle, BC Legislature
- Synopsis: The teenage son of the king and queen of Auradon offers the trouble-making children of villains a chance to attend prep school in the kingdom.
- Starring: Dove Cameron, Cameron Boyce, Booboo Stewart
- Director: Kenny Ortega
White Chicks (2004)
- Filming location: Government House
- Synopsis: Two disgraced FBI agents go way undercover in an effort to protect hotel heiresses the Wilson sisters from a kidnapping plot.
- Starring: Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans
- Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans
- Box office: $113.1 million
X2: X-Men United (2003)
- Filming location: Hatley Castle
- Synopsis: When anti-mutant Colonel William Stryker kidnaps Professor X and attacks his school, the X-Men must ally with their archenemy Magneto to stop him.
- Starring: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen
- Director: Bryan Singer
- Box office: $407.7 million
Cats & Dogs (2001)
- Filming location: Craigdarroch Castle
- Synopsis: A look at the top-secret, high-tech espionage war going on between cats and dogs, of which their human owners are blissfully unaware.
- Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Elizabeth Perkins, Alexander Pollock
- Director: Lawrence Guterman
- Box office: $200.7 million
Scary Movie (2000)
- Filming location: Victoria High School
- Synopsis: A year after disposing of the body of a man they accidentally killed, a group of dumb teenagers are stalked by a bumbling serial killer.
- Starring: Anna Faris, Jon Abrahams, Carmen Electra
- Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans
- Box office: $278 million
Final Destination (2000)
- Filming location: Bastion Square
- Synopsis: Alex Browning is among a group of high school students readying themselves for a trip to Europe. When he suddenly has a premonition their airplane will crash, he screams to warn the others but instead he is thrown off of the plane.
- Starring: Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith
- Director: James Wong
- Box office: $112.9 million
Little Women (1994)
- Filming location: Craigdarroch Castle, Humboldt Street
- Synopsis: The March sisters live and grow in post-Civil War America.
- Starring: Winona Ryder, Gabriel Byrne, Susan Sarandon
- Director: Gillian Armstrong
- Box office: $95 million
Bird on a Wire (1990)
- Filming location: Market Square, Fan Tan Alley
- Synopsis: An old flame discovers her ex-boyfriend from the past is a relocated FBI informant out to stop the bad guys.
- Starring: Mel Gibson, Goldie Hawn
- Director: John Badham
- Box office: $138.7 million
