The live-action Moana remake generated about $39 million in economic impact for Hawai’i, Aloha State Daily reports. The movie filmed for nine days on O’ahu, the most populated Hawai’ian island.

Moana‘s Economic Impact on Hawai’i

The $39 million estimate comes from Georja Skinner, the chief officer of the state’s creative industries division of the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

“First of all, having a major production in Hawaiʻi does so many things, not just with the spend and the jobs that it generates, but also the on-the-job learning experience from being on major productions like this,” Skinner told Aloha State Daily. “And that’s what helps inform our own local creative economy and our local content development, which is a big focus of our department going forward.”

The money was spent on labor, vendors, contractors, transportation, and more.

Moana hired 560 residents and 185 non-residents across 39 job categories including accountants, actors, production office support, special effects, stunts, transportation, and on-set teachers.

This week, Governor Josh Green signed SB 2580, which hopes to bring more productions to the state with an increase to tax credits if 80% of the hires are local; an expansion of the credits to cover streaming media as well as movies and TV; and an increase to the tax credit cap from $50 million to $60 million.

The live-action Lilo & Stitch was also filmed in O’ahu, and its upcoming sequel would likely return.

Moana is in theaters now. It made $4.5 million at Thursday previews and is floundering on Rotten Tomatoes.

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