Caught up in the mortgage crisis and looking for a helping hand? “Hancock” could come to your rescue. 

Columbia Pictures, the Hollywood studio behind upcoming action movie “Hancock,” is holding a contest to pay off the mortgage debt of one family — taking its cue from the flawed but good-hearted superhero played by Will Smith in the movie.

The studio will pay up to $360,000 of mortgage debt for the family that wins a 200-word essay contest explaining why they deserve the grand prize.

It’s a pretty slick publicity stunt by a Hollywood studio which, for a big-budget film like “Hancock,” will spend tens of millions of dollars on marketing. The amount is not small, especially if you’re a family up to you’re neck in mortgage debt and unable to pay it off. But for a multi-million dollar marketing campaign, $360,000 is a relatively cheap deal if it draws a lot of attention to the movie.

The promotion does seem appropriate to the film. In “Hancock,” Smith plays an angry, drunken superhero with a serious case of self-loathing, but for reasons unknown to him he can’t stop himself from tossing crooks in jail. His bad attitude seems to cause more harm than good and most everyone in his hometown of Los Angeles seems to hate him. Hancock is in serious need of an image makeover when he meets up with a savvy public relations man played by Jason Bateman who, himself, is looking to do some good in the world.   

Columbia’s contest, called Hancock’s Helping Hand Mortgage payoff, begins immediately and runs through July 6. “Hancock” opens on July 2. Good luck.