Cartoon classic looks at coming to town

Hide your picnic baskets - Yogi Bear's next adventure could be happening in New Zealand. Photo / Supplied

Hollywood scouts are considering locations around Auckland for a big-budget film version of the cartoon Yogi Bear.

The movie's location manager and director visited Woodhill Forest in Rodney District during pre-production for the big-screen version of the Hanna-Barbera classic.

"They are considering the area as a potential location for the film," said Euan McKee, assistant manager of the forest's Tree Adventures attraction.

"The director came back a couple of times to have a look and I understand he was flying back to the States this week.

"They thought it was a good location and they really liked it."

The cartoon featured the antics of Yogi and his sidekick Boo Boo as they thwarted Ranger Smith's attempts to stop them stealing food from tourists visiting Jellystone Park.

The film version is expected to feature computer-generated bears alongside human actors.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Warner Bros film will be directed by Eric Brevig, whose credits include Men in Black and The Day After Tomorrow. Brevig is also well-known in CGI circles for directing 3-D hit Journey to the Centre of the Earth, which earned more than US$230 million worldwide.

Warners, which owns the copyrights to all Hanna-Barbera cartoons, had huge success remaking Scooby-Doo for the big screen. The studio is also rumoured to be planning a film version of Tom & Jerry.