movie locate toronto

Someone documented many of the movie scenes you had no idea were shot in Toronto

A Toronto film buff made it his mission to expose all the areas of Toronto that Hollywood has ever transformed into a movie set.

The Good Will Hunting shot at U of T's Whitney Hall or David Cronenberg's iconic film, The Fly, shot in Liberty Village: They're just a couple of scenes out of over 1,000 that Timothy Bramble wanted to share. 

A web developer by day, Bramble launched the Instagram account Movie Locate back in 2021 and ran it for a number of months.

Inspired by other film buffs' obsessions with recreating photos based on movie scenes, Bramble shared before and after shots of areas around Toronto.

"Pre-pandemic I was an avid movie fan," Bramble told blogTO back in 2023. "But during the pandemic, like everyone else, probably, I started watching more movies.

"I was fascinated about how often Toronto would pop up in movies as other places." 

He shared over 40 movie scenes, like the iconic scene from 1984's Police Academy shot in Kensington Market, a Christmas Story's use of Chop Suey Palace in East Chinatown, where Batifole is, and Hairspray at Gale's Snack Bar.

Bramble told blogTO he especially liked the movies from the 1980s, which showed how drastically different Toronto's landscape looks now. 

Movie Locate is no longer active but the postings from back in 2021 remain on Instagram.

Lead photo by

Movie Locate


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