Jason Momoa buys into South Island hospitality business

Jason Momoa

Hollywood heavyweight Jason Momoa has bought into a longtime Queenstown hospitality business.

Last December, Momoa bought 81 shares of Grey Door Ltd, which operates Bunker in the resort’s CBD, Arrowtown’s Hyde and recently took over Arthurs Point’s Gin Garden, turning that into The General Kitchen & Bar and The General Store, which opened just before Christmas.

Company director Cam Mitchell said Momoa "just loves it here".

"He’s a mountainbiker, he’s a rock climber, he’s a snowboarder — we’ve got all the things here that he loves, and I don’t think it’s any secret that he’s looking for residency, however that happens."

Then last year, when an opportunity arose for Momoa to take a stake in Grey Door, "he kind of jumped on it".

While the actor, who is starring in the recently released Minecraft movie, is a minority shareholder at 7.49%, "he wants to increase his shareholding over time".

Hawaiian-born Momoa has strong connections to New Zealand. In November, he was made an honorary citizen of Rotorua, but he has been able to trace his family back to New Zealand.

In an interview with Newshub, he said the Momoa lineage went back about nine generations in Hawaii, but he had discovered they started there, came to New Zealand, and then went back.

"Since I was a baby, seeing pictures of New Zealand, I’ve been just pulled there and the moment I stepped foot there, it was the only place on earth I felt like this is exactly where I’m from," he said.

Mr Mitchell said there was a chance

the new partnership would bolster the Wakatipu film industry.

"He’s got projects in the future that he wants to bring here — multiple projects.

"There are rumours about movie infrastructure in the future, that would all help bring industry down here ... it’s all good for the local economy."