By WAYNE THOMPSON
Disney has chosen Henderson as the location for making a science-fiction movie.
Waitakere mayor Bob Harvey said the two months of filming based at a factory in Bruce McLaren Rd would inject several hundred thousand dollars into the local economy and employ dozens of people.
The movie, Zenon, would be similar to Star Trek: Generations, and was likely to include the city's west coast beach locations.
Mr Harvey said much of the world already knew about Karekare Beach through Jane Campion's film The Piano.
"Karekare is an icon that is something special to us all. People from all round the world come to see it."
Car-makers Audi, Peugeot and Nissan had this year chosen the beaches as settings for their international television advertisements.
Peugeot spent £2 million ($6.6 million) on filming an advertisement on the winding Piha Hill road for viewing in Britain.
Mr Harvey said the council's business arm, Enterprise Waitakere, had set out to lure film and television crews as part of its "business cluster strategy."
Movies such as Savage Honeymoon, Eye of the Storm and Jubilee had used city locations, as well as television series Xena, Hercules and Greenstone. Soap opera Shortland Street is also filmed in Henderson.
Mr Harvey went to the Locations Expo in Los Angeles this year with Film New Zealand representatives.
He said he was still working with several potential investors to secure a deal for the first full-length feature to be shown on Imax screens.
He hoped that the movie, based on Captain James Cook's voyages to New Zealand, would be filmed next year.
Disney heads to Henderson
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