Montréal: Where movie dreams are made
Did you know the very first film screening in North America happened in Montréal? It was on June 27, 1896, at the Palace Theatre on St. Lawrence Boulevard, where an invitation-only crowd gathered to watch grainy scenes from France on technology invented by the Lumière brothers. It was the start of a love affair.
Birth of an industry
Today Montréal isn’t just a hot spot for film aficionados, with some stellar cinemas and theatres (many of which can be rented out for events) and close to a dozen annual film festivals to enjoy — it’s also at the heart of the Canadian film and television making industry. There are more than 50 production studios and 40 more visual effects companies in the city, making it one of the largest post-production hubs in the world. Montréal is also where Canada’s National Film Board is headquartered, and where over 600 international films are shot every year.
Directors like Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis have all chosen to shoot here. In recent years, local directors like Xavier Dolan, Denis Villeneuve and Jean-Marc Vallée have garnered accolades on the international scene.
As a shooting location, Montréal presents unique variety and visual richness. In a single day, crews can move from a European-style cobblestone alley to striking modern skyscrapers to convincingly convey New York, Paris or Chicago — all while maintaining Montréal’s unique identity and renowned logistical efficiency.
Among the long list of movies filmed partially or entirely in Montréal, you’ll find blockbusters such as X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Day After Tomorrow, The Last of Us, The Notebook, Catch Me If You Can, Battlefield Earth and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.
Cutting edge of technology
Always at the forefront of creative expression, Montréal is the logical place for the cutting edge of cinematic progress — Montréal is where IMAX technology was invented, after all, back in 1967. Technological advancements remain at the centre of the healthy local post-production industry, special effects, visual effects and animation sectors to this day, and ironically still involve large, immersive screens.
MELS is an all-in-one production house for film, television, advertising and audiovisual projects, complete with 20 studios located near downtown Montréal, as well as post-production and visual effects services in house. The studios at MELS boast state-of-the-art technical facilities, including a virtual studio featuring an immense semi-circular, immersive digital background. At the intersection of the virtual and digital worlds, this facility has been a game-changer in the Canadian industry: it’s the second biggest of its kind in the country (and the third in the world).
Post-production pros
In 2024, MovieMaker ranked Montréal among the top 10 best cities worldwide to live and work in the film industry. “Walk the streets of diverse, romantic Montreal and you’ll immediately feel creativity brewing — it’s a truly global city that feels welcoming, inspiring and urgent. But that incalculable energy is backed up by strong numbers: The tax credit for film production services can be as high as 42.6%, based on federal and provincial tax rates,” states the report.
According to Statistics Canada and the Quebec Film and Television Council, the film, television, and video post-production industries generated approximately $2.6 billion in direct spending across Québec in 2022, with the majority of this activity concentrated in Montréal. The post-production sector shows that Québec-based companies generated $1.4 billion in operating revenue in 2023, most of the activity being centred in Montréal, while the VFX and animation sector — for which Montréal is a world-leading hub — accounted for approximately $1.069 billion in direct spending in 2022.
And lucky for the city, the lure for live-action blockbuster productions from studios and streaming giants is only increasing as time and technological developments advance.
Action!