10 Famous Movies Filmed in Victoria BC (and Its X-Men Castle)

Victoria has played Paris. It has played a coastal town in California, a ferry town near Seattle and a mutant school in Westchester, New York. Productions bring about $60 million a year into southern Vancouver Island, according to Saanich News, and most viewers never notice they’re looking at BC’s capital.

These are the 10 best-known movies filmed in Victoria BC, plus the shows that turned the city into a set. They’re ranked by how much of Greater Victoria ends up on screen, from a single high school to more than 160 locations. Hatley Castle, the Colwood castle that keeps showing up in superhero movies, gets its own section after the countdown.

10) Scary Movie (2000)

The Wayans brothers’ horror spoof sent its cast back to school at Victoria High School.

Principal photography ran from August to October 1999, mostly in British Columbia. The crew shot around Victoria, most notably at Victoria High School, according to Victoria Buzz.

That $278 million is the biggest box office number in this countdown. It also launched a franchise, and Scary Movie 3 (2003) came back to Vancouver Island for some of its locations too.

9) Bird on a Wire (1990)

Mel Gibson rode a motorcycle down Fan Tan Alley, and it’s still the most famous chase ever filmed in Victoria.

Fan Tan Alley is less than 0.9 metres (3 feet) wide at its narrowest point. That makes it the narrowest commercial street in North America, according to Wikipedia, and a strange place to aim a motorcycle.

The film opened at number one with $15.3 million in its first weekend. Walk the alley today and try to picture a bike in it. The shops are still there, and so is the squeeze.

8) The Boy (2016)

Craigdarroch Castle became the creepy English manor where a nanny looks after a porcelain doll.

Director William Brent Bell got two castles in one city. The crew built the attic and other interiors in a warehouse on Ellery Street in Esquimalt, according to the Times Colonist.

The sequel, Brahms: The Boy II (2020), brought Katie Holmes to Craigdarroch for another round. Craigdarroch is a museum today, so you can walk the same rooms without the doll.

7) Five Easy Pieces (1970)

Jack Nicholson’s breakthrough drama shot most of its family scenes on Vancouver Island.

The waterfront mansion and several other landmarks have since been demolished or replaced, according to 604 Now. Beacon Hill Park is still there, and so is the ferry run across Saanich Inlet.

Here’s the trivia that wins pub quizzes. The famous chicken salad scene, where Nicholson argues with a waitress over toast, wasn’t shot here. That was a Denny’s near Eugene, Oregon. The film joined the National Film Registry in 2000.

6) Descendants (2015)

Disney turned the BC Legislature into a fairy-tale castle and used Hatley Castle for the finale.

The Legislature played Auradon’s castle for the coronation, Government House stood in for Auradon, and Hatley Castle hosted the finale. A record 1,500 locals answered the call for background performers, according to the Times Colonist.

That number tells you something about this city. When a big production comes to town, Victorians show up to be in it. If you want to be one of them next time, our guide to how to be a movie extra covers Island casting.

5) Final Destination (2000)

The death scenes, the memorial, the forest scene and even the scenes set in Paris were shot in Victoria.

Vancouver International Airport stood in for JFK, and a few extra scenes were shot in Toronto and San Francisco, according to Wikipedia. Almost everything that makes the film memorable happened here.

Victoria doubling for Paris is the kind of cheat only film crews get away with. Old stone, narrow streets and a bit of set dressing, and nobody in the audience checked.

4) Gracepoint (2014)

Fox’s remake of Broadchurch turned Oak Bay and Sidney into a California town with a murder to solve.

The marketplace at Portside Marina in Sidney became the police headquarters, according to Wikipedia. David Tennant had already played the lead detective in the British original, Broadchurch.

The show lasted one season, but it gave Oak Bay and Sidney 10 episodes of screen time.

3) Crew Girl (2026)

Netflix’s rowing drama used Hatley Castle as its school and put Victoria’s lakes and waterways on screen.

Crew Girl climbed to number 2 on Netflix in its second week, and Netflix renewed it on 22 September 2026, with season 2 filming in Victoria, according to Hollywood North Buzz.

Victoria is a rowing town, with clubs on Elk Lake and the Gorge. The show filmed the sport where locals already do it.

2) Private Eyes West Coast (2026)

This is the rare show on the list where Victoria gets to play itself, starting with a murder at the Fairmont Empress.

Episode 1 name-checks Barb’s Fish and Chips, Harbour Air and the Victoria Butterfly Gardens. “Victoria’s a beautiful city, and there’s tons of really interesting things going on that we were able to exploit for the show,” Priestley told Victoria News.

Season 2 is already set to film here next year. For a spin-off of a show that ran from 2016 to 2021, moving the whole story to Victoria is a vote of confidence in the city.

1) Maid (2021)

Netflix’s Maid used more than 160 Greater Victoria locations over nine months, more than any other production on this list.

Filming ran from 28 September 2020 to 9 April 2021, hired about 200 crew and brought an estimated $10 million into the local economy, according to the Times Colonist. “Victoria is such a character on the show,” creator Molly Smith Metzler said.

Netflix counted it as the platform’s fourth most-watched show of 2021. If you know Greater Victoria, you’ll spot its ferry docks, beaches and motels all through the series.

Movies Filmed at Hatley Castle

Hatley Castle, on the Royal Roads University campus in Colwood, has played Xavier’s school in X2, X-Men: The Last Stand and both Deadpool films, the Luthor mansion in Smallville and the Queen mansion in Arrow.

It first became Xavier’s school in Generation X, a 1996 Fox TV movie. “Once we used it, a bunch of other people started using it,” director Jack Sholder told Montecristo Magazine.

Title	Year	What the castle played
The Changeling	1980	A senator’s mansion
Generation X	1996	Xavier’s school
Smallville	2001 to 2011	The Luthor family mansion
X2	2003	Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters
X-Men: The Last Stand	2006	Xavier’s school
Arrow	2012 to 2020	The Queen family mansion
Descendants	2015	The setting for the finale
Deadpool	2016	The X-Mansion
The Boy	2016	Part of the Heelshire estate
Deadpool 2	2018	The X-Mansion
Crew Girl	2026	The prep school

Hatley Park lists dozens more on its filming history page, from MacGyver and The Killing to Witches of East End. George C. Scott’s The Changeling used the castle for its final confrontation, 16 years before any mutant moved in.

The grounds cover 565 acres, with Italian, Japanese and rose gardens, a museum and guided tours, according to Hatley Park. Check the Royal Roads site for tour times before you go.

Hallmark Movies Filmed in Victoria BC

Hallmark keeps coming back to Victoria’s heritage streets and to Oak Bay.

• The Christmas House (2020): shot in Victoria and Sidney, according to Victoria Buzz.
• Once Upon a Prince: Oak Bay played a small town in the American South.
• Sailing into Love: Oak Bay again, this time as a sunny island getaway.
• Young Aurora Teagarden Mysteries (2024): Hallmark’s mystery series filmed in Victoria.

The Oak Bay titles come from Tourism Victoria. For the characters who keep these films going, see our list of Christmas movie characters.

More Movies Filmed in Victoria BC

The countdown only scratches the surface. Wikipedia’s list of films shot near Victoria runs from the 1930s to 2025.

• Son of Lassie (1945): scenes at Victoria’s airport.
• Little Women (1994): Winona Ryder’s version, filmed mostly on Vancouver Island and in Vancouver, with Craigdarroch Castle in the mix.
• Cats & Dogs (2001) and White Chicks (2004): both filmed in Victoria.
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine: listed at Colwood.
• Lucid (2025): filmed in Oak Bay.

Vancouver carries the bigger slate in BC, including shows like Virgin River, and our film locations section covers both.

FAQs About Movies Filmed in Victoria BC

The Final Cut on Movies Filmed in Victoria BC

Victoria rarely gets to play itself, but it’s in more movies than most people realize. Maid, Final Destination and a castle full of mutants all started here.

If you live in Victoria, you’ve probably walked through a set without knowing it. For more cities that stole the show, see our list of iconic movies filmed in Chicago.

Which Victoria filming location have you already walked past without noticing?