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Kokua Line
June Watanabe
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Kamehameha movie appears to be 'dead'
Question: A few years ago when The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) made a movie here, he announced that he had been signed to do a movie about King Kamehameha. What happened to it?
Answer: It looks like the proposed "biopic," announced five years ago, is somewhere in Never Never Land.
"I hate to use the word 'dead,' but it appears as though it is dead, for now," Hawaii Film Commissioner Donne Dawson told us yesterday.
Stories hyping "Battle for Paradise" two years ago talked about a release in 2007. But, a check of current fan and other Web sites tout "Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run" and "The Game Plan" as Johnson films due for release next year, with no mention about The Rock starring as The King.
During a recent trip to Los Angeles, Dawson said she met with officials of Sony Pictures Entertainment and specifically asked about the movie.
"It appears there is no movement on that at all," she said. "I really can't explain the whys, just that there has been no movement on it and it doesn't appear that there will be anytime soon."
Dawson's main reason for meeting with Sony was to tout the state's new tax incentive for film production in Hawaii. Act 88, which took effect July 1, allows film producers to qualify for 15 to 20 percent tax credits.
While no news meant bad news about the Kamehameha project, the good news is that Sony officials, "along with other studios, are very excited about the credit," Dawson said. If there are any projects suited to, or written for, Hawaii, "we have a much greater chance of landing those."
The Hawaii Film Office's Web site -- www.hawaiifilmoffice.com -- or blog -- hawaiifilmblog.com -- are great sources of information on current and past movie, TV and commercial productions in the Islands, including a list of every feature film shot in Hawaii, dating back to 1913.
Q: We live on a private road, with eight houses. One family indicated they plan on putting in kennels to raise and sell pit bulls. Is this legal? What can we do to stop this?
A: City officials say they can't give a definitive answer until your neighbors actually do put in a kennel.
City zoning laws allow a household to have up to 10 dogs in a residential neighborhood.
Yours is a "tricky" question because there isn't a kennel now, said an official with the Housing Code Section. "So we can't do a thing" on a "hypothetical question."
Some people have dogs as pets and sell their offspring, but "that doesn't necessarily mean that's a commercial business," he said.
But if the homeowner were breeding dogs for commercial purposes, "we may check into that to see if what they're doing is permitted or not," he said.
Again, he said, "it depends on what the situation is. It's hard to tell at this point."
Got a question or complaint? Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered. E-mail to
kokualine@starbulletin.com.
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