Monster Trucks film unit still rolling

ARTS/ ENTERTAINMENT — A second camera unit working on Paramount Pictures’ Monster Trucks has a couple more days in the Kamloops area before shooting wraps up here.

The unit was filming race scenes for the live-action/animated action movie on Thursday at Goose Lake, 15 kilometres southwest of the city. As well, they may shoot scenes downtown on Lorne Street over the weekend.

This is the second round of Monster Trucks location shooting in the Thompson-Nicola region after the production arrived in Kamloops in early April and began shooting scenes near the airport. Principal shooting took place in Chilliwack in May.

The film is based on the popular line of Tonka toys and stars Jane Levy, Lucas Till, Amy Ryan, Rob Lowe, Danny Glover, Holt McCallany, and B.C.’s own Barry Pepper. Chris Wedge (Ice Age, Epic) directs the movie. Wedge earned an Oscar in 1999 for the animated film Bunny. Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, the duo who wrote the Kung Fu Panda series, co-wrote the script.

The $125-million movie is scheduled for release in May 2015.

Paramount and its partner, Descriptive Entertainment, are said to be aiming for a film franchise with the box-office horsepower of the Transformer series.

Monster Trucks is the largest Hollywood production the region has attracted since the filming five years ago of the action/adventure flick 2012.