Filmmakers Taika Waititi, Cliff Curtis and Jason Momoa have bought Glen Eden production facility Studio West, giving their Āriki Group its first confirmed foothold in West Auckland screen infrastructure.
Jason Momoa and Cliff Curtis, part of Āriki Group.
What’s at stake? A working Auckland studio has moved into the hands of an Indigenous-led ownership group with international reach and a focus on jobs, talent development, ownership and creative control.
Background This is separate from the earlier Auckland Film Studios process in Henderson, where a Curtis-led consortium had been linked to a possible purchase before that site was sold to Xytech Group in January 2026.
Main players Āriki Group, owned by Waititi, Curtis and Momoa, is the buyer, while Kay and Glenn Howe have sold Studio West after owning and operating it for the past decade.
Āriki Group, the company owned by Taika Waititi, Cliff Curtis and Jason Momoa, has acquired West Auckland film and television production facility Studio West.
The deal, announced by Screen Guild NZ, gives the trio control of one of the country’s longer-standing production sites and adds a new
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Key points
What’s at stake? A working Auckland studio has moved into the hands of an Indigenous-led ownership group with international reach and a focus on jobs, talent development, ownership and creative control.
Background This is separate from the earlier Auckland Film Studios process in Henderson, where a Curtis-led consortium had been linked to a possible purchase before that site was sold to Xytech Group in January 2026.
Main players Āriki Group, owned by Waititi, Curtis and Momoa, is the buyer, while Kay and Glenn Howe have sold Studio West after owning and operating it for the past decade.
