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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah's film industry is rebounding from the economic downturn.
Figures obtained by The Associated Press in advance of their official release Thursday show the number of jobs created by film productions increased to 1,255 during the fiscal year that ended June 30, up from 520 jobs in the previous year.
The economic impact of those productions is valued at $53 million, compared with $11.3 million a year earlier.
Utah's film industry got a major boost from the production of feature films such as "John Carter of Mars," the first live-action film from Disney/Pixar Animation. The state offered $5.5 million in incentives to land the film.
Feature films are important because they have bigger budgets and film longer in the state. Other productions that filmed in Utah in the past year include "127 Hours."
Directed by Danny Boyle and starring James Franco, the film tells the true story of Aron Ralston.
Ralston is a mountaineer known for amputating his right arm with a dull blade in 2003 after it was pinned by a half-ton boulder at the bottom of a canyon near Moab.
The economic impact figures don't include spending on television commercials or series that filmed in the state.
TV series that filmed episodes here in the past year include "One Tree Hill" and "Thrillbillies," while commercials filmed in Utah include those for Microsoft Corp.'s search engine Bing, AT&T Inc. and Nissan Motor Co.
Utah Film Commission Director Marshall Moore said the state's tax incentive program has been successful luring movie productions to the state, but Utah is still struggling to attract long-term television series.
He said that's primarily because TV studios want a long-term commitment that their incentives will still be there after several years.
Moore and other economic development officials have already begun approaching lawmakers about ways to help lure more series here, noting that when the former series "Touched by an Angel" filmed in the state, it spent about $1 million per episode.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
