Hawaii, the chain of islands famous for cinematic tropical landscapes, is adding soundstage infrastructure to boost its star power and compete with the mainland.
Development firm Hawaii Studio Group has unveiled its master plan for a private film studio campus next to the University of Hawaii, West Oahu, in Kapolei, a rapidly developing city about 20 miles west of Honolulu on the island of Oahu.
The $125 million first phase is expected to include four 18,000-square-foot stages, production offices, a mill for set building, and supporting retail and commercial space. The project, pending approvals, is slated to open in phases starting in 2028.
Hawaii’s indoor sound stage supply has been limited. The state-owned Hawaii Film Studio in Honolulu includes only 16,500 square feet of such space, constraining larger productions.
Hawaii is adding infrastructure as competition among global jurisdictions has heated up for a limited supply of film and television shooting hours. From California to New Zealand, countries and cities are offering tax breaks to production firms to attract business.
Billions are being poured into new filming facilities across the nation, including Manhattan’s first purpose-built film-and-television campus to massive soundstage complexes in New Jersey, Texas, San Diego and Los Angeles.
Studio-anchored
The Hawaii project "ties real estate value, workforce development and production infrastructure into one campus,” said a statement from UH West Oʻahu Chancellor Maenette Benham.
The university selected Hawaii Studio Group in 2024 to design, build, finance and operate the campus under a ground lease model that keeps the land under the university's control.
The plan envisions a public-facing town square with retail and lodging, while studio operations remain secured behind the scenes. The town square expects to draw customers from the nearby master-planned D.R. Horton Hoopili community, which includes more than 11,000 new homes.
Hawaii Studio Group is a compilation of film and studio industry experts.
Island Film Group leads the partnership and has helped produce or finance more than 100 film and television projects in the state; studio developer Stephan D. Smith brings experience from over 50 studio campuses worldwide; and Hawaii Media Inc. — the state’s largest film-equipment rental company — rounds out the team.
Hawaii's screen history
Hollywood has relied on Hawaii’s scenery for decades.
Blockbusters and cult favorites such as "50 First Dates" and "Blue Crush" were filmed and set in the state, while other popular and cult classics including "Jurassic World" use Oahu and Kauai as stand-ins for tropical paradises around the world.
But those productions also highlight the real estate gap: Much of that filming happened outdoors in nature preserves like the Kualoa Ranch or required mainland sound stages when weather or logistics got tricky.
Backers of the new Kapolei project say adding serious stage capacity is the only way to keep those shoots entirely on island — and add more year-round jobs for crews.
That infrastructure could also help Hawaii lure more business from other states with better tax incentive programs.
Hawaii offers a refundable production tax credit of 22% for projects on Oahu and up to 27% on the neighbor islands. By contrast, states like New Mexico and Georgia advertise rates of 30% or more.
Data from the Hawaii Film Office show 25 productions claimed credits in 2023, with qualified in-state expenditures reaching $168.7 million. That compared to $4.1 billion in Georgia and $730 million in New Mexico during the same period.
The global film entertainment industry is still recovering from pandemic-related production shutdowns, labor strikes and shifting consumer behavior toward streaming platforms.
Production starts in the second quarter of 2025 are forecast to be 5% higher than in the same period in 2024 and 8% higher than in the same period in 2023, but still about 20% below the pre-strike peak in mid-2022, according to a global industry outlook by Vitrina, a data platform tracking global production activity.
Studio development
The proposed Hawaiian soundstage project is part of a larger wave of studio development sweeping across the U.S., as states and cities race to capture more film and TV production activity.
In New York City, Vornado Realty Trust has partnered with Hudson Pacific Properties and Blackstone Group in a $350 million public-private venture to build Manhattan’s first purpose-built film-and-TV studio campus at Pier 94. Two separate projects are underway in Brooklyn, spanning 600,000 square feet across 10 soundstages and offices.
New Jersey has become a hotbed of studio construction, with the 1.6 million-square-foot 1888 Studios soundstage campus under construction in Bayonne.
Across Central and North Texas, developers are building out modern soundstages, virtual production facilities and mixed-use studio campuses.
In San Diego, developers have proposed an 89,600-square-foot virtual production studio campus near San Diego State University.
In Los Angeles, Echelon Studios, under construction in Hollywood, will be the first new purpose-built studio complex in the city in over 20 years. The campus will feature four 18,000-square-foot soundstages, with construction expected to finish by mid-2026.
In downtown Los Angeles, East End Studios expects the city council to approve its 675,611-square-foot Arts District LA Campus with 16 soundstages this year.
Not every player is bullish on new studio space. For example, famed filmmaker Tyler Perry is changing strategies at Atlanta’s former Fort McPherson Army post, dropping plans for more filming space next to his studio campus and proposing a large mixed-use development there instead.