Hawaii is no stranger to movie screens. This Friday (4/18), Hawaii has another starring location role, this time in a new film called Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Most of the movie’s scenes were filmed on Oahu’s North Shore, including places such as Turtle Bay Resort. Actor Jason Segel (who plays Peter Bretter, the film’s main character) even wrote the script in Hawaii.

In this romantic disaster comedy, Segel’s character, Peter, takes a trip to Hawaii in an attempt to heal his broken heart. But he discovers that his ex, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), is staying at the same resort with her new boyfriend.

It’s no surprise why many filmmakers set movies in Hawaii. The tropical sunny weather is appealing, just as much as Hawaii’s palm trees and beaches. According to the Hawaii Film Office, the Islands hosted hundreds of feature films since 1913, including Jurassic Park, Pearl Harbor, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Waterworld, Blue Hawaii, From Here to Eternity and Godzilla.

We posted our favorite five "made-in-Hawaii" movies here, in January.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is produced by Judd Apatow (Superbad, The 40-Year-Old Virgin), and features stars such as Mila Kunis (“That ‘70s Show”), Paul Rudd (Knocked Up, Clueless) and Jonah Hill (Superbad, Evan Almighty). Even a few Hawaii residents landed acting roles, including Hawaii surfer Kalani Robb.

As with any movie, there’s always mixed reviews. Here’s a sample of what critics had to say: Rotten Tomatoes, The Village Voice, The Movie Blog and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

 

Before Elvis Presley sang the title song in the 1961 movie Blue Hawaii, Bing Crosby sang the tune in the 1937 film Waikiki Wedding.

In 1950, Famous Studios (Paramount Pictures’ animation division) used “Blue Hawaii” in a cartoon.

The cartoon’s culturally and historically outrageous. Still, we couldn’t help but giggle at the monkeys pounding poi and the dancing palm trees.

How about you? Amused? Offended by the portrait of Hawaii in this cartoon?

A bonus: If you don’t know the words to “Blue Hawaii,” you can sing along by following the bouncing ball.

 

Indiana Jones doesn’t just rescue lost Biblical relics. He also took some time last year to rescue Hawaii’s film industry.

The Hawaii Film Office announced today that film producers collectively spent more than $200 million here in 2007—more than in any previous year. The year that came closest to last year’s record take was 2004, with $164 million.

Harrison Ford and the production crew for the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull spent more than $15 million while filming on the Big Island last summer.

Other productions filming in Hawaii last year included the Ben Stiller and Jack Black flick Tropic Thunder (Kauai), Knocked Up director Judd Apatow’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Oahu) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (Maui/Molokai).

About to begin its fourth season on Jan. 31, the hit ABC television series Lost continues to film exclusively on Oahu.

The news left me in the mood to revisit a handful of my all-time-favorite filmed-in-Hawaii flicks. Here are five — one for every pau hana evening of the workweek.

Enjoy. Tell me what I missed. Give me your Top 5. Perhaps I’ll do a second list sometime.

MONDAY
From Here To Eternity (1953). I love that I work just a half-hour’s drive away from the beach where Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr famously rolled in the surf and turf. You know, just in case.

TUESDAY
Blue Hawaii (1961). The best of the three Elvis Presley flicks filmed here has The King singing Ke Kali Nei Au (The Hawaiian Wedding Song) AND Rock-A-Hula Baby.

WEDNESDAY
Donovan’s Reef (1963). John Wayne in Hawaii as tough World War II veteran Michael “Guns” Donovan? Who cares if they called the fictional island Haleakalowa?

THURSDAY
Jurassic Park (1992). Because I still get a kick out of watching Tyrannosaurus Rex chase a herd of Gallimus dinosaurs and a bunch of pesky humans against the backdrop of the Koolau mountain range.

FRIDAY
Punch-Drunk Love (2001). The Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki has never looked so gorgeous, elegantly old-fashioned and other-worldly all at the same time as in this eccentric romantic comedy.