New Zealand One-Ups Hawaii

The sequel to the Disney Channel film "Johnny Tsunami" (1999) is being filmed in New Zealand instead of Hawaii, where both films are partially set. The original film shot its Hawaii scenes on Oahu.

Exec producer Douglas Sloan said, "New Zealand looks amazingly like Hawaii. It's pretty astounding how similar the landscape is, the ocean, waves and vegetation....We've done a lot of shows here now and we know that we can absolutely rely on the crews and actors down here to do a first-rate job," and claimed that all but 4 of the 60-person crew is local.

>> Waitakeres stand in for Hawaii in Disney film [New Zealand Herald, 2/16/07]

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