Family adventure trilogy filming around Auckland

First Treasure Island Kids movie on schedule for 2004 release. The second film in Daybreak Pacific’s Treasure Island Kids trilogy started shooting at Bethel’s Beach near Auckland this week (November 28).

Treasure Island Kids — The Monster of Treasure Island, directed by Auckland actor and director Michael Hurst (Hercules), follows the first in the trilogy - Treasure Island Kids - The Battle of Treasure Island and paves the way for Treasure Island Kids - The Mystery of Treasure Island, in this trilogy of high-adventure family fun flicks.

The trilogy’s nine-week shooting schedule is due to end mid-January and the producers predict the first of the three feature films will be released here in the middle of next year.

Local audiences will have fun recognising locations like Bethels Beach and Piha, on Auckland’s film-famous west coast, and Wenderholm, north of the city, which stands in for a remote South Pacific island. Interiors are being filmed at Daybreak Pacific Studios in Auckland.

The real fun, however, will be provided by the Boy’s/Girl’s Own-style storylines, a talented young ensemble cast mostly cast from New Zealand and funky sets and props created by production designer Nigel Evans.

Loosely inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, Treasure Island Kids is a modern adventure tale that revolves around a summer camp on a remote South Pacific island, where an international group of youngsters unite in their bid to find the island’s fabled hidden treasure.

Auckland actors John Callen and Beth Allen play the camp’s owner, Conrad, and his wife Ellie. The young campers are played by a cast of talented New Zealander’s aged from seven to 18.

In the first film, Treasure Island Kids - The Battle for Treasure Island, the kids who arrive at the camp find themselves having to fight a band of bloodthirsty pirates led by Captain Flint intent on getting the treasure.

Treasure Island Kids — The Monster of Treasure Island find kids and adults battling to save themselves from a terrifying sea monster — a supposedly extinct prehistoric reptile — and Treasure Island Kids — the Mystery of Treasure Island involves a talking statue which hides an alien reality that is stranger still. Production Designer, Nigel Evans and the Treasure Island Kids art department gave their imaginations full rein in creating eccentric, Heath Robinson-style sets and props — like a giant tree house and fabulous treasure cave — that add to the films’ sense of fun and graphic adventure.