New Jersey has become an increasingly important US film-production centre, attracting directors including Peter Farrelly, Steven Spielberg and James Mangold with tax incentives, varied locations and proximity to the north-east. Its rise matters because domestic production is falling overall, yet the state is recording substantial growth and reshaping a long-standing pop-culture image associated with reality television and organised crime.

Farrelly chose New Jersey for “I Play Rocky” after finding it cheaper than Philadelphia while offering a more convincing setting than Atlanta or Sydney; the production spent $27 million locally and received $10 million in incentives. In 2025, 73 projects used New Jersey’s incentive programme, compared with 46 in 2024, with estimated spending exceeding $1 billion versus $833 million the previous year. Recent productions include “Happy Gilmore 2”, which spent $152 million during 64 filming days, while Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day” and Mangold’s “No Direction Home” spent $34 million and $81 million respectively; the boom is largely linked to tax credits reinstated in 2018.