CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming moviegoers this holiday season might find the flick they’re watching set a little close to home.

In the big-budget disaster film “2012” currently showing in theaters, John Cusack and Woody Harrelson find in Yellowstone National Park that the park’s massive but long-dormant volcanic caldera — spoiler alert — isn’t so dormant after all.

And on Dec. 18, Columbia Pictures will release the romantic comedy “Did You Hear About The Morgans?” featuring Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker as an on-the-rocks married couple in Manhattan who are sent by the Witness Protection Program to live in small-town Wyoming after witnessing a murder.

Hollywood hasn’t paid this much attention to the Cowboy State since “Brokeback Mountain” and “An Unfinished Life” hit movie screens in 2005.

And the publicity generated by that attention often means serious money for Wyoming.

For example, the publicity for Wyoming generated by “Brokeback Mountain” on TV and in magazines reached almost 21 million people and was equal to a $3.5 million ad buy by the Wyoming Tourism Board, said board spokesman Chuck Coon.

It’s hard to determine exactly how much of an economic boost Wyoming receives when it’s prominently featured in a major motion picture.

But Coon said 30 years after aliens landed at Devils Tower in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the movie still promotes Wyoming.

“Each time that movie is shown again ... we always get a bump in inquiries,” he said. “Once they figure out it’s Devils Tower in Wyoming, they call us and they ask us for information on tourism.”

Both “2012” and “Did You Hear About The Morgans?” figure to publicize the state as well. Last month, the director and stars of “2012” held a press junket in Jackson.

“We’re definitely getting some play from that,” said Wyoming Film Office manager Michell Howard.

The Wyoming Tourism Board brought in “Did You Hear About The Morgans?” writer and director Marc Lawrence to tour Meeteetse and Cody in 2006 when he was researching potential settings for the screenplay.

“Capturing that story line for the film was huge for us, because this could have ... supposedly taken place in Montana,” Howard said. “And at least we’re in that story line and getting the Wyoming promotion out of it — which we will try to definitely capitalize on as this film releases in the next few weeks.”

But while both films are set in Wyoming, no scenes in either movie were actually filmed in the state, Howard said.

That’s despite a film industry financial incentive program set up by the state in 2007 after three major movies about Wyoming — “Brokeback Mountain,” “An Unfinished Life” and “Stuka” — were mostly filmed outside the state.

Under the program, filmmakers with a budget of at least $200,000 are eligible for cash rebates of 12 to 15 percent on money they spend in the state during film shoots.

The Yellowstone scenes in “2012” were filmed in British Columbia because park officials were reluctant to allow the filmmakers to set off the explosives and pyrotechnics needed to simulate the explosion of a super-volcano, Howard said.

As for “Did You Hear About The Morgans?” Howard said the filmmakers considered shooting scenes in Wyoming, but eventually they chose to shoot in New Mexico instead because of that state’s incentive program and because there’s a more established film infrastructure there.

Compared to other states, Howard said, Wyoming doesn’t have a very strong local film infrastructure — which means everything from having film and construction equipment to a pool of experienced local crew members and technicians.

That can be a turnoff to major movie studios, she said, because it’s cheaper to hire those types of crew members locally than to bring in, house and feed dozens of crew members from out of state. Also, if the movie studio can’t find in-state equipment and workers in Wyoming, they aren’t eligible to receive a financial rebate from the state, she said.

“When you truck in 200-some people in from Los Angeles, and you’re paying their accommodations, and their per diems for meals, and their salaries, it gets pretty pricey,” Howard said.

However, while these problems have hampered major multimillion-dollar film productions in Wyoming, the state’s financial incentive program has attracted a number of smaller film projects.

This year, the state lowered the minimum budget needed to qualify for the rebate program from $500,000 to $200,000. Since then, the Wyoming Film Office has received seven rebate applications — mainly for documentaries, TV series and independent films with six-figure budgets.

Luring in more of these midsized projects will help Wyoming build its nascent film industry to the point where it can support major movie productions as well, she said.

“Really, we’re kind of building up and trying to provide more of those services to host the larger projects,” she said.

And even though “Did You Hear About The Morgans?” was filmed elsewhere, the filmmakers didn’t immediately dismiss Wyoming as a potential filming location.

“They did some number crunching and they looked at us as an actual option,” Howard said. “And before the incentive program, we wouldn’t even have been looked at as a option.”

Contact Jeremy Pelzer at jeremy.pelzer@trib.com or 307-632-1244.