Big movie filming date a top secret

Queenstown residents are gearing up for the arrival of the crew from a new mega-budget action movie, but studio bosses remain tight-lipped about when filming will start.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the fourth movie in the hugely popular X-Men series, is currently in pre-production at Sydney's Fox Studios. Initially scheduled for release in America in May 2009, movie insiders have said there are rumours of a delay in the project.

Hugh Jackman will reprise his role as the movie's title character with his company Seed Productions at the helm.

Scream star Liev Schrieber and Hawaiian beauty Maggie Q are also rumoured to have been cast.

Gavin Hood, who directed Reese Witherspoon in last year's thriller Rendition, has been confirmed as the film's director.

The proposed locations for filming include Queenstown, Deerpark Heights, Skippers Canyon, Glenorchy and Milford Sound.

However, a spokesman for the Wolverine production office said the exact date that filming will begin in Queenstown was being kept secret.

"At this stage I can't release that kind of information but we should be able to tell you more later in the month," he said.