Latest in New Jersey

New Jersey movie theaters can open this Friday, September 4, Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday, the latest upbeat news for the battered exhibition business after California last week set parameters for reopening that would allow locations in San Francisco and other counties to open. Murphy said attendance at theaters will…

A federal judge has ruled that the state of New Jersey, for now, can keep movie theaters closed at the same time religious services or other indoor gatherings are allowed to proceed. The case, closely watched in industry circles, has offered a close-up look at one effort by beleaguered theaters to open their doors…

Major movie theaters in New Jersey have filed a federal lawsuit against the state for its decision to hold back on reopening multiplexes due to lingering concerns about COVID-19. The National Association of Theatre Owners of New Jersey is leading the complaint (read it in full HERE), with major circuits like AMC…

New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have doubled the number of states whose residents will be asked to go into quarantine when they travel to the Tri-State Area due to rising COVID-19 concerns. California has joined the list of 16 states, as have Georgia and Tennessee. Residents of 16 states will now have to go into…

The governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut said that they are imposing a joint travel advisory in which visitors from states with high community spread of COVID-19 must quarantine for 14 days. The travel advisory is effective at midnight tonight. The list of states includes Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona…

The coronavirus outbreak at the Actors Fund Home in New Jersey appears to be leveling off. "Even though Bergen and Essex Counties are the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Jersey, the fund may have weathered the worst of it, at least for now," said Joe Benincasa, president and CEO of the Actors Fund, on…

EXCLUSIVE: Seven residents at the Actors Fund Home in New Jersey have died from COVID-19 and 11 others have tested positive for the virus, according to officials at the entertainment industry retirement home. With 116 residents, the home in Englewood, NJ, sits in one of the nation's hotspots for the coronavirus. The…

It’s an annual tradition, but late-night comedian John Oliver thinks it’s time to put SantaCon to rest. The HBO Last Week Tonight host’s show is on hiatus. But Oliver took time out this holiday season to dress down “manufactured” SantaCon events across the country that attract thousands of people dressed as Santa…

This year’s MTV Video Music Awards are going heavily hip-hop. The network will close out the kudofest with a New Jersey-themed performance featuring rap pioneers hailing from the Garden State. Among the all-star roster are Naughty By Nature, Queen Latifah, Redman and Wyclef Jean, who moved to Newark from Haiti and…

MPAA chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin praised New Jersey’s passage last month of aggressive new film and TV production incentives, saying the new rules have unlocked interest from a range of major producers. In a statement today, Rivkin saluted New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy for signing the new law creating a tax credit…

Paul Schrader’s First Reformed won the top narrative prize at the Montclair Film Festival Saturday night, and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy confirmed he will sign an ambitious tax-incentive bill as a stimulus for film and TV production in the state. After an introduction by Stephen Colbert (a local resident long…

After seven years without offering tax incentives for film and TV production, New Jersey is poised to implement aggressive new benefits to producers that would be worth up to $425 million over five years. Proponents and observers of the humming production scene in and around New York City say the move is likely to…