| Collective Pictures | |
| Type: | Private |
| Foundation: | 2010 |
| Founder: | Jeff Chan |
| Location City: | Toronto, Ontario |
| Location Country: | Canada |
| Industry: | Film production |
| Key People: | Jeff Chan |
Collective Pictures is a Canadian production company founded in 2010 by Jeff Chan and based in Toronto, ON.
Notable work includes the Code 8 sci-fi film franchise and the romantic drama Float. Collective was formerly known as Colony Pictures.[1]
Chan, one of Playback‘s “5 to Watch” in 2014, rose to prominence after creating the viral Activision short film Find Makarov.[2] Activision initially threatened to sue Chan because fans believed a new version of the game was being released. But after seeing the strong audience response, Activision hired him to create its first and only short film for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, entitled Find Makarov: Operation Kingsfish.[3]
Collective Pictures released a 10-minute short film entitled Code 8 on YouTube in March 2016. Centred around the 4% of people living in fictional Lincoln City who possess special abilities, the sci-fi fantasy stressed individual power over technological superiority and military authority. The short has accumulated over 6.9 million views as of January 2024.[4]
The short acted as a teaser for the potential feature film. An Indiegogo fundraising campaign, spearheaded by Collective, Robbie Amell, and Stephen Amell, asking for $200,000 was launched on March 23, 2016.[5] The campaign reached its goal within 36 hours and reached $2.4 million by April 24, 2016. Fundraising closed with $3.4 million on December 31, 2019, with the continued campaign helping recover costs of DVD pressings and the distribution to contributors of perks, wardrobe and props from the production.[6] A four-minute segment of the film's closing credits shows a list of only some of the 30,810 contributors to the fundraising campaign. The first announcement of additional cast came on June 12, 2017, when Laysla De Oliveira joined the film.[7]
Code 8 set the record for the highest grossing day-and-date release for Elevation Pictures in Canada and Vertical Entertainment in the U.S., eventually earning $5 million in VOD revenue through Apple, Amazon and Vudu. The film, also financed by Telefilm and U.K. based Fyzz Facility, reached No. 1 on Netflix's Top 10 list in the U.S., France, Australia, UK, Mexico and Brazil.[8] Following Code 8
On June 1, 2021, it was announced Robbie Amell and Stephen Amell would produce the sequel alongside Collective and reprise their roles from the original film.[9] On June 14, Ted Sarandos announced Netflix had acquired the rights to the feature film and would release it exclusively to their platform.[10] Filming was scheduled to begin in Toronto in October 2021. Cast members confirmed filming had begun in November 2021, with Amell teasing the possibility of Code 8: Part III.[11] Code 8: Part II began filming in the fourth quarter of 2021 and was released February 28, 2024 on Netflix.[12]
In September 2020, it was announced that Wattpad and Collective Pictures would team up to develop Float, a film based on the story written by Kate Marchant on the Wattpad social storytelling platform.[13] The film, directed by Sherren Lee, was released on February 9, 2024.[14]
Collective raised $2.4 million CAD (US$1.1 million) from more than 30,000 supporters for Code 8 (2016) on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo. This far exceeded its initial $200,000 goal, making it the largest-ever crowdfunded campaign for a Canadian film on any crowdfunding platform.[15]
| Film Year | Film title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Jeff Chan | distributed by YouTube | |
| 2019 | Code 8 | Jeff Chan | distributed by Vertical Entertainment |
| 2024 | Float | Sherren Lee | distributed by Lionsgate Films and Elevation Pictures |
| Jeff Chan | distributed by Netflix and XYZ Films |