There were 67 productions in 2022 including The Boys, Handmaid’s Tale and Reacher in Mississauga

Film production reached record highs in Ontario last year and Mississauga saw a booming year too.

In 2022, Ontario reported its highest production levels to date, with 419 productions bringing in $3.15 billion in production spending for the economy, according to Ontario Creates, an agency of the provincial government responsible for economic development in the arts. The productions brought 45,891 full-time equivalent direct and spin-off jobs for Ontarians.

In Mississauga, there were 67 productions in 2022 including film, television, commercial and student filming, the City of Mississauga tells insauga.com.

Productions like The Boys, which became 2022’s most-watched superhero program, contributed to revenue and job creation in Mississauga, Ontario Creates notes. The Boys was filmed at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga and also shot in Hamilton and Brampton last year.

The City of Mississauga is right up there with Toronto in terms of the number of films, TV, post-production work, and animation production being done in the city, Justin Cutler, Film Commissioner at Ontario Creates, tells insauga.com.

“Mississauga is unequivocally one of the busiest filming hubs in the province,” Cutler said.

As of 2023, Mississauga is home to eight established film studios boasting more than one million square feet of stage space across the city, the City of Mississauga said in a press release. Before the pandemic, the city set an all-time high as the second-busiest film location in Ontario – with almost 1,300 days of filming.

“Just a short drive from Toronto and less than a couple hours from the U.S. border, Mississauga has been behind the scenes and on big screens (and TVs) for many years,” the release notes.

Aside from The Boys, the Amazon Prime show Reacher, and the CBC series Sort of… were two other productions filmed in Mississauga in 2022, Cutler said.

Fellow Travelers was also filmed in 2022 and Cabinet of Curiosities was filmed in Mississauga at Benares Museum in late 2021 and in Toronto in 2022.

Some of the other productions that filmed in 2022 include TV shows Handmaid’s Tale (City Hall), Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (CBS Studios), Good Sam, Pretty Hard Cases, and What We Do In The Shadows, the City of Mississauga says.

Feature Films include Out of My Mind (Disney), You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (Netflix), and Fingernails (Apple).

Cutler says there are several reasons why the film industry is booming right now. The province has a reputation as a strong, reliable film jurisdiction.

There are competitive financial incentives, a vast infrastructure of studios and production support services, and a highly skilled workforce.

There’s also a variety of locations.

“But what also helped us grow, particularly in 2022, is that we continue to build capacity for the industry to grow,” says Cutler.

That includes studio development, workforce expansion, and environmental sustainability.

Mississauga offers a variety of filming locations including a downtown core, large industrial buildings, heritage sites, boutique shopping areas and large shopping malls, the city notes.

The city is also home to several picturesque neighbourhoods, beautiful parks and public spaces that look different throughout the four seasons.

Here are some other well-known films and TV shows filmed in Mississauga over the years:

• Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (Erin Mills Town Centre)
• Glitter (Living Arts Centre)
• Titans (Celebration Square)
• The Pacifier (Rodeo Drive)
• Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle (Erin Mills Town Centre and Streetsville)
• Downsizing (Doulton Drive)
• Enemy (Kaneff Buildings)
• Slumberland (Living Arts Centre)
• Umbrella Academy (Lakeshore)