The list of studio features shot in Maine includes about a dozen and a half films, a plurality of which, unsurprisingly, are connected to Stephen King.
But for major films shot in its most populous city, the list is short.
Aside from a Danforth Street house remodeled to portray a Chicago home in "Message in a Bottle," the city of Portland's most recognizable scene to hit the big screen arrived in 1996 with Penny Marshall's "The Preacher's Wife."
The film, which grossed $48 million at the box office, starred Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington and singer Whitney Houston, widely known as the most awarded woman ever in show business. It was nominated for Original Musical or Comedy Score at the 69th Academy Awards, but lost to "Emma."
As director, Marshall, who died Monday at 75 of complications from diabetes, brought her production to Maine in February of that year to capture an ice skating sequence in Deering Oaks Park.
Rain and warm weather disrupted plans, so ice chunks were trucked in and fake snow was made to replicate the envisioned conditions.
NEWS CENTER was there in 1996.
In addition to the Oscar nomination, "The Preacher's Wife" was nominated for five Image Awards, winning Best Actress for Whitney Houston as Julia and Best Supporting Actress for Loretta Devine as Beverly. The film's soundtrack, The Preacher's Wife: Original Soundtrack Album, sold millions of copies worldwide and is the best-selling gospel album of all time.