HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Wyoming will play host to alien invaders this spring during filming of ``Starship Troopers'' in the Casper area.

Lensing primarily in Hell's Half Acre park in Natrona County, the film is helmer Paul Verhoeven's follow-up to ``Showgirls,'' and is based on Robert Heinlein's sci-fi novel about humans battling giant bugs that have invaded Earth. The Hell's Half Acre site will serve as locations for two different planets for the shoot.

According to Bill Lindstrom, manager of the Wyoming film office, this project -- 40% of the alien pic (budgeted at a projected $95 million) will be the largest project ever to come to the state and will mean a substantial boost to the Casper economy and its national visibility.

``'Starship Troopers' is going to be one of the largest feature films to shoot anywhere in the world in 1996,'' said Lindstrom. ``It's the type of project that doesn't come around very often on location.''

``Starship Troopers'' is one of many projects cropping up from the fertile alien invaders genre. Upcoming projects include 20th Century Fox's ``Independence Day,'' helmed by Roland Emmerich (``Stargate''). ``Troopers'' utilizes more than 400 special effects sequences with live-action segments lensed on location in Los Angeles, New York and Wendover, Utah -- on an abandoned airstrip once used to train the crews of the ``Enola Gay'' bomber during World War II.

Helmer Tim Burton will invade Las Vegas for his sci-fi installment, ``Mars Attacks,'' for Warner Bros. Said to be a black comedy about earthling's hysteria after Martians invade the planet, the film includes an ensemble cast of Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Glenn Close and Sarah Jessica Parker.

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