NEWARK, NJ — New Jersey’s largest city recently scored another appearance in a major Hollywood blockbuster.
Newark was among 10 cities and towns in the Garden State that were used as filming locations for Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day,” which released last month.
Spielberg’s latest science fiction film centers on an alien invasion. The movie stars Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor and Colin Firth.
In addition to Newark, other filming locations included Buena Vista, Hanover Township, Jersey City, Mendham Township, Montville, Morris Township, Upper Township, Woodbine and Woodbridge.
Some of these places also doubled for other locations around the country, serving as stand-ins for Kansas, Missouri and Maryland, according to the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission.
The production spent an estimated $34 million in qualified film production expenses during its 23 days of filming in New Jersey under the state’s tax credit program, according to the commission.
It almost didn’t happen, state officials said.
“Disclosure Day was headed to another state to film, but the film commission was able to show Spielberg’s team that New Jersey had the big cities and rural towns the script called for,” executive director Jon Crowley said.
It isn’t the first time that Spielberg has picked New Jersey to capture footage for a space-themed movie. In 2004, another alien invasion movie – “War of the Worlds” – was filmed in Bayonne, Newark and Howell Township.
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