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9 movies and shows you didn’t know were filmed at SFU Burnaby

August 29, 2022

SFU Burnaby might be best known as Canada’s number one comprehensive university, but it’s had its fair share of other moments in the limelight. Specifically, SFU has been the filming location of plenty of movies. Here’s a list of some movies and shows we bet you didn’t know were filmed (or are currently filming) at SFU Burnaby.

Some might say that SFU Burnaby campus looks like the perfect setting for a post-apocalyptic movie, and a lot of movie studios would agree. The Day the Earth Stood Still filmed some scenes on the campus (and also filmed some scenes at Deer Lake Park).

That’s right, the new Disney+ series set to premiere sometime in 2023 has already filmed scenes at SFU Burnaby. Percy Jackson and the Olympians (based on the book series by Rick Riordan) is most likely using SFU as the museum scene from the beginning of The Lightning Thief. But let us know what your best guesses are!

Did you know that SFU Burnaby was the home of the CIA headquarters? Well, not really. But if you watch the trailer for Agent Cody Banks, at the 22-second mark you can see for yourself how they transformed SFU. If you’re dedicated you can watch the entire movie to see all the scenes shot there, but with a 32% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, we aren’t sure we would recommend it.

Bad news: SFU Burnaby was used as another post-apocalyptic movie filming location. To sum it up in one sentence, this movie is all about killing vampires. So be on the lookout the next time you’re walking around the dark hallways of the Robert C. Brown Hall on campus.

You’ll recognize plenty of on-campus locations in the sequel to Jeff Goldblum’s The Fly. The film follows the son of Brundlefly who is looking for a cure for his mutated genes. While it didn’t get the same fame as its predecessor, this film is still fun to watch.

Now this one has us scratching our heads. Antitrust did technically film at SFU by using exterior shots of the campus. But every interior shot was filmed at UBC. I guess Burnaby just has the more aesthetic campus from the outside (take that, UBC).

This TV reunion movie sees “Col. Nelson on a long-term, top-secret space mission and Jeannie on a quest to find him and bring him home.” If you were a fan of the show then you’ll definitely like the movie.

That’s right, Brad Pitt at one point in time was on the SFU campus for the movie Spy Game. Remember that you’re walking on the same sacred ground as him the next time you’re late to class.

When our reporter Dustin read this list he was very disappointed we hadn’t included The X-Files. To quote him directly, he said “You are HURTING me Marco. All day every day, just hurting me.” So, to make sure he doesn’t quit, we decided to add it in. The X-Files has filmed all over BC since it began so you’re guaranteed to see some familiar scenery the next time you watch.