But very few details about the filming of Disney's Mulan in the area later this year are emerging.
The Waitaki District Council and Land Information New Zealand (Linz) have both confirmed they have been approached by the film's production company about filming in Ahuriri Valley, Mt Hay and the Tasman River.
And Sierra Motel manager Sue Harvey, at Omarama, said while the ''odd couple'' of people associated with the film had been in and out of the town over the past couple of weeks, from late September the motel would be ''fully booked all the way through until about the first week of November''.
Omarama Top 10 Holiday Park, which hosted up to 30 members of the film crew for A Wrinkle in Time for about a month last year when scenes were shot at Mt Cook National Park, had also been in talks with the film company, the woman who answered the phone said.
She understood the production company had expressed interest in a considerable amount of accommodation in the town of about 300 people at the junction of State Highways 8 and 83, which would be ''absolutely awesome'' for the area.
Council planning manager Hamish Barrell said a decision had yet to be made on an application, filed last week, for a land-use consent, and the council was at this time honouring the production company's request to protect the sensitive information in the application on the grounds of commercial sensitivity.
Linz land and property group manager John Hook said he received an application for filming at the Tasman Riverbed in February, which was still being considered, and an application for a permit to film at Mt Hay, received in March and approved in part at the end of May.
At Mt Hay, the majority of the sites proposed by the producers for filming were approved, he said, but in three locations with ''sensitive ecological values'', the commissioner proposed alternative nearby sites ''and other mitigating steps to lessen its impact''.
South Island production manager Jared Connon was contacted by the Otago Daily Times, but said he could not answer any questions about the film.
Mulan, the live-action remake of the 1998 animated Disney feature, has a reported budget of nearly $300 million.
The film, scheduled for release in 2020, directed by Wellington-born Niki Caro (Whale Rider, The Zookeeper's Wife), features Chinese star Liu Yifei, New Zealander Yoson An, Donnie Yen (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Ip Man) and Jet Li (The Expendables, Romeo Must Die).
