Production for the movie began in February 2006, with a budget of around $20 million. The main photography for the movie was shot in Auckland, New Zealand in sixty days. movie editing took ten weeks. Post-production, music mixing, and visual effects took a few months. The movie was finished by November 2006. This was because the crew "had to rush" to finish it by February 16. The movie was directed by Gábor Csupó. Walden Media President Cary Granat first recommended him to direct the movie. Csupó had never done a live-action movie before. However, he said it "didn't worry Granat in the least". Csupó noted that he was interested in making the movie. He "had the ambition to do a live-action movie for a long time", but that he "didn't like anything until I read this book". He called the book "beautiful" and said that it "moved [him]". The cinematographer of "Bridge to Terabithia" was Michael Chapman. This was his final movie before he retired. Chapman mentioned in the film's DVD commentary that he retired after the movie because he wanted his last movie to be a good one. He said: "this is such a beautiful story, and it's exactly the kind of movie I want to do at this time in my life".