Major film studio in 'Hollywood North' gets new owner down south

An aerial view of Vancouver Film Studios campus on the city's east side. (VFS)

A major film studio in "Hollywood North" is switching hands from a B.C.-based family business to a company down south.

On Friday, the McLean Group of Companies announced the sale of Vancouver Film Studios—the location behind blockbusters like Deadpool, The Flash and Yellowjackets—to L.A.-based Hackman Capital Partners.

“Vancouver Film Studios has been a core company in our family business for 25 years and we are confident HCP will take what we have built to even greater heights,” said Jason McLean, CEO of the McLean Group of Companies, in a statement.

With 19 production campuses across North America, the United Kingdom and Ireland, HCP describes itself as the world’s largest owner and operator of independent film and television studios.

HCP CEO Michael Hackman says the company is thrilled to be the next steward of VFS, which is located in the city’s east side, close to where Highway 1 and Boundary Road overlap.

“Not only is the facility purpose-built and state of the art, but we are inheriting a management team that is among the best in the business,” Hackman said in the release, which does not include the price of the sale.

CTV News has reached out to HCP for more financial information and will update this article once a response is received.

On its website, VFS says it has hosted more than 100 feature films, collaborating with entertainment behemoths like Disney, Warner Bros. 20th Century Studios, NBC Universal, Netflix, Apple and CBS.

“VFS will continue to operate as an independent film and television studio with the added network and support that HCP provides,” the statement reads.

The company has also been in the global spotlight for its climate action and social values.

VFS says it has been carbon neutral since 2008 and became the first studio in the world to become B-Corporation Certified in 2021.

“It demonstrates our commitment to weighing employee welfare, the environment and community engagement equally with financial performance of the company,” reads VFS’s website.

Last year, VFS broke ground by introducing an annual $5,000 bursary for Indigenous filmmakers in British Columbia who are aged 16 and older.

“First Nations’ storytelling and representation have been largely missing from our media landscape and we would like to play a part in starting to reverse this longstanding inequity,” the company wrote online.

In March, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim toured VFS and hinted at exciting opportunities on the horizon.

CTV News has reached out to the City of Vancouver for more information about what this acquisition means for the future of the local film industry.