SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – The Utah Film Commission approved two new movies and a tv show to be filmed in the Beehive state in 2023. The commission says the three productions will bring about $8.4 million in economic impact while creating over 1,000 jobs.

The two movies will begin shooting in May of this year. The first, titled “A Tree Fell in the Woods“, is an independent feature written and directed by Nora Kirkpatrick (“The Coop“, “Virtually Mike and Nora“). Kirkpatrick said she had been dreaming of shooting the independent film in Utah since she wrote it.

“The combination of the aesthetic of homes in Utah with the dense exterior woods and late melting snow, make shooting in Utah the perfect home for our film,” said Kirkpatrick.

The second movie is described as a thriller titled “Image of You.” Details of the movie are limited, though the Utah Film Commission said it comes from the producers of Netflix‘s 2022 holiday special “Falling for Christmas” starring Lindsay Lohan and Chord Overstreet.

Finally, the fourth season of Dallas Jenkins’ “The Chosen” will return to be filmed in Utah in and around Utah County. According to IMDB, the 2017 show which can be streamed on Peacock, follows an intermittent sequence of Bible events that revolve around Jesus Christ’s service, from the perspective of those who interact with him.

“We love filming in Utah,” said “The Chosen” President Brad Pelo. “It’s a beautiful place to bring the story of Jesus to life.”

“The Chosen” is expected to create 450 jobs through its production alone.

The three productions add their names to a growing list of TV and film that has used Utah as their backdrop. Other productions filmed in Utah include “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid,” “The Sandlot,” “127 Hours,” and HBO’s “Westworld.”

Most recently, Eugene Levy explored Utah’s desert beauty and the surrounding Navajo nation through a helicopter tour and the famous Amangiri resort in his AppleTV+ travel comedy show “The Reluctant Traveler.”