Barsoom Pictures Inc. has a role in Saltywood's John Carter of Mars film

As fan Jeff Doten of the website Barsoomia noted recently, a company called Barsoom Pictures Inc. has some kind of role in Disney/Pixar’s long-awaited John Carter of Mars film (2012). A search of the California Secretary of State’s corporations database reveals that paperwork for a company called Barsoom Pictures Inc., 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, CA, was filed in late April 2008. The agent listed is Marsha L. Reed, who, if I’m not mistaken, is an executive at Disney. In addition, a search of the Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code's business entity database reveals that Barsoom Pictures Inc. was registered to conduct business in that state on June 8, 2009.

On June 12, 2009, The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Disney/Pixar will film part of John Carter of Mars in Utah, spending about $27 million and creating nearly 400 jobs. In return for generating this economic activity, the project will receive a $5.5 million tax credit under a state incentive program. While The Salt Lake Tribune did not mention Barsoom Pictures Inc., an article published in the Desert News on June 11, 2009, stated that the Governor's Office of Economic Development Board (GOED) "also approved a refundable tax credit of up to $5.5 million for Barsoom Pictures." Presumably, the tax credit will be paid out of the Utah Film Commission's Motion Picture Incentive Fund.

As Governor Jon Huntsman stated in a GOED press release in April 2009, “There is Hollywood and Bollywood, Utah has Saltywood. The combination of the enhanced [tax] incentive, our variety of scenery and locations, as well as our proximity to Los Angeles all contribute to our reputation as a premier destination for filmmaking.”

Pictured: Utah Film Commission's "Location #10000786 - Near Castle Dale - Mars." Castle Dale is a small town just east of the San Rafael Swell, a vast geologic feature that has sections where the geography and topography resembles that of Mars. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Mars Desert Research Station outside of Hanksville is about a three-hour car ride south of Castle Dale.