New Godzilla Movie Sets On Hawaii Island

Oahu will be the backdrop this summer for movie scenes of a large, damage-prone star.

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures on Monday said filming for its new Godzilla movie is planned for the island starting July.

Studio officials have picked several locations and filmmakers should be easy to spot, Hawaii film commissioner Donne Dawson told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser (http://bit.ly/10OdfFu).

“They’ll be filming in some very public places,” she said. “The public will have no problem observing filming activity. It is not going to be hidden away in the jungle.”

The monster itself may not be apparent. Godzilla will be computer-generated on screen.

“They will be doing a lot of shooting with a lot of people,” Dawson said. “It’s probably not going to be evident from the shooting what is actually going to take place on the screen.”

Filming on the movie began March 18 in Vancouver, British Columbia, under British director Gareth Edwards, who directed the 2010 movie, “Monsters.”

The Godzilla screenplay is by Max Borenstein, Frank Dara 7/8bonte and Dave Callaham. It stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Wata 7/8nabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, David Strathairn and Bryan Cranston.

Honolulu film commissioner Walea Constantinau said filming will be good for the local economy. Filming of two other recent movies, “The Descendants” and “Battleship,” has underscored the island’s value for making movies, she said.

“This is an indelible franchise that lives through history,” she said. “For us to be part of it, with Honolulu front and center in some of it, is an unbelievable marketing opportunity.”

Godzilla has been to the island before. Matthew Broderick starred in a 1998 version of the monster movie shot on Kauai and Oahu, one of 30 Godzilla movies filmed since 1954.