End may be nigh for biblical movie

The end could be nigh for the North Otago biblical movie Kingdom Come, that has been plagued by financial problems for more than a year.

The film, on the life of Christ, was to be filmed at two North Otago sites.

An application to liquidate the film's production company, South Vineyard, was made in December, but it was given until next week to raise $100 million to continue making the movie, the Timaru Herald reported.

A hearing into the application was set to proceed on Monday in the High Court at Wellington.

South Vineyard lawyer Stephen Brown said negotiators were ongoing with potential backers.

The film was to have been filmed in various locations around New Zealand, including Falstone, on the shore of Lake Benmore, and near Duntroon.

The company was granted resource consents in 2008 by the Waitaki District Council to establish film sets at Falstone and Duntroon.

Environment Canterbury (ECan) also granted consents to build a replica fishing harbour in Lake Benmore.

Falstone was to have become Capernaum, a 3000-year-old fishing village, and Lake Benmore the Sea of Galilee in the biblical movie.

Those consents were due to expire in November last year, at which stage the company had to have cleared the sites.

However, both the Waitaki council and ECan extended those consents until November this year while South Vineyard attempted to resolve issue including financing, negotiations with lead actors and distribution rights so filming could start.

- david.bruce@odt.co.nz