Stars fall on Manitoba as province sees potentially record-breaking year for film production

Manitoba has seen its share of visiting movie stars over the past few decades, from Brad Pitt (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) to Philip Seymour Hoffman (playing the title role in Capote, which won Hoffman his best actor Oscar) to Jennifer Lopez, Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon (Shall We Dance).

But rarely, if ever, have so many stars descended at the same time as this year. The province has been the locus of an unprecedented amount of film production over the past few months, in what is looking like the busiest production calendar ever.

Janice Tober, marketing and communications director for Manitoba Film and Music, says the estimated production volume for 2024 is indeed a record-breaking $434.9 million between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31. The projected 2024-25 fiscal year estimate between April 1 and March 31 is $424.2 million.

"Manitoba is having a banner year when it comes to production, with a continuing busy summer ahead," Tober said in an email interview.

If it seems like a lot, it is, at least compared to the previous year, Tober said.

"It's approximately double the previous [2023-24] fiscal year … at $225 million, when filming in Manitoba was impacted by the writers' and actors' strikes in the U.S.," Tober said.

Indeed, a handful of big productions have landed this summer, most recently the horror film Altar, by Russian director Egor Abramenko (the critically praised Sputnik).

Produced under the banner of the prestigious production company A24 (Hereditary, Everything Everywhere All at Once), making its first project in Manitoba, the film will star Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks), David Krumholtz (Oppenheimer) and January Jones (Mad Men), as well as up and-comer Lily Collias (Good One).

Altar is scheduled to commence shooting in mid-August and wrap in October.

Odenkirk returns for Nobody 2

Shooting at roughly the same time as Altar is Nobody 2, the sequel to the unexpected action hit, which grossed in excess of $57 million US when it was released in 2021. Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) returns to the role of Hutch Mansell, a seemingly meek suburban nebbish compelled to return to his hyper-violent roots as a government assassin.

On Wednesday, it was announced that Christopher Lloyd would be returning as Hutch's equally deadly father. (Nobody gave the 80-something Lloyd a nice, late-in-life chance to dip his toes in the action genre.)

Also announced is Oscar-nominated actress Sharon Stone, presumably playing as deadly a character as she played in the 1992 thriller Basic Instinct. Danish actress Connie Nielsen returns as well as Hutch's wife Becca, who has a violent past of her own.

Replacing original director Ilya Naishuller is Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto, who has made a name for himself with brutal action films such as 2018's The Night Comes for Us. 

Nobody 2 is produced by 87North, the company that gave us the amped-up action of John Wick and The Fall Guy. The film will be distributed by Universal Pictures and will likely be released in August 2025.

And it appears Odenkirk may be here for a double bill.

In May, Deadline reported on an upcoming feature he intends to make with Nobody/John Wick screenwriter Derek Kolstad titled Normal, in which he would play a new-in-town sheriff trying to solve a mystery while contending with his own inner demons.

While no one has gone on record to say where the film will be made, coincidentally, a movie titled Normal appears on the Directors Guild of Canada production schedule (with no personnel mentioned by name), commencing shooting in Manitoba in October — more than a month after Nobody 2 finishes.

And even by then, we may not be done, at least with the folks from the Nobody 2 universe. A sequel is reportedly in the works for 87North's film Violent Night, the unlikely hit action film from 2022, starring David Harbour as an ultraviolent Santa Claus.

With the original having shot in Manitoba in early 2022, the sequel is rumoured to be returning here by the end of the year.

Stephen King adaptation stars Mark Hamill

Currently shooting is The Long Walk, an adaptation of a Stephen King novel about a dystopian society that stages the titular event as a form of twisted entertainment for the populace. (Published in 1979 under King's nom de plume Richard Bachman, the film is said to be one of the inspirations for The Hunger Games, so it is no coincidence The Long Walk is being directed by Hunger Games vet Francis Lawrence.)

Last month, the film announced high-profile Star Wars alumnus Mark Hamill would star, as well as Judy Greer, who recently shot another film in Winnipeg, the seasonal comedy The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, opening in theatres Nov. 8.

Hamill and Greer aside, the film has a wealth of young talent in the mix, including Cooper Hoffman (Philip Seymour Hoffman's son, who starred in Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza) and David Jonsson, who stars in the upcoming sci-fi horror film Alien: Romulus.

The movie has also signed an impressive array of young talent including JoJo Rabbit star Roman Griffin Davis, Ben Wang (recently cast as the lead in a new Karate Kid reboot) and Canadian actor Joshua Odjick (Little Bird, Bones of Crows).

Meanwhile, Vince Vaughn and James Marsden are reportedly signed up for It Takes Two, from director BenDavid Grabinski (the animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off) with Eiza González (seen lately in Guy Ritchie's The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) also in talks to join the cast, according to a recent story in the Hollywood Reporter.

Direct L.A. flight gives boost

The effect of this much film production resonates through all of Manitoba's business community, said Kenny Boyce, manager of film and special events for the City of Winnipeg.

Boyce said he knows things are hopping when the city starts experiencing a bump in hotel rentals and car rentals, and everyone from booksellers to second-hand stores starts either selling or renting out their wares to movie production companies looking to build sets.

Boyce attributes the bump in production, at least partially, to the direct flights between Winnipeg and Los Angeles added by WestJet in 2022.

"There's a notable satisfaction for the producers and production managers and the talent with the direct flights," Boyce said in a phone interview.

Visitors from out of town have been enjoying what the city has to offer in a big way, he said.

"The weather has been fantastic and the visitors have been going out to the Comedy Festival, the Fringe Festival and the Winnipeg Folk Festival," Boyce said.

"I love when that happens," he said. "Because I'm a proud Winnipegger, and they get to enjoy what I get to enjoy every summer."