Cue the Ennio Morricone soundtrack. Hollywood is returning to its Western roots.

Stories with flinty-eyed protagonists set in wide-open spaces are gaining in popularity among audiences yearning for armchair travel and a break from computer-graphics and superhero films. Studios are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on several high-profile projects while lower-budget film productions take advantage of the cost efficiencies of shooting a Western.

The latest push into Westerns includes plans for dozens of new series and films, many shot on location, boosting business for horse wranglers and local economies. ViacomCBS Inc. plans to build on the success of a top-rated cable show, “Yellowstone,’’ which stars Kevin Costner. Netflix Inc.’s platform has two cowboy-theme movies with the English actor Idris Elba, one of which, “The Harder They Fall,” was shot in New Mexico. Angelina Jolie stars in “Those Who Wish Me Dead” from AT&T Inc.’s Warner Bros., a thriller set against the backdrop of the Montana wilderness, out in May.

The Golden Globes win for “Nomadland,” which features images of an empty Nevada desert and a lonely pilgrimage on roads through Western states, also evokes the genre. The film’s director, Chloé Zhao, recently announced she would make a futuristic vampire Western for Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures.