EAST RUTHERFORD - On her 100th day in office, Mikie Sherrill went to the movies. Sort of.

The governor was the featured speaker at the state's second annual Film Expo at the Meadowlands Arena.

These are upbeat times for the movie industry in New Jersey.

Those who care about such things know that the industry had its start in the Garden State with the inventions of Thomas Edison and early filming in Fort Lee. There was obviously something about the cliffs of the Palisades and the view of the Hudson.

The move to California changed the movie landscape seemingly forever, but the state is trying hard to get some of it back.

The state does offer very generous incentives - tax credits up to 40 percent for film and digital media productions.

That seems to have gotten attention.

In recent years, Netflix announced plans for a production center at the former Fort Monmouth. Lionsgate plans to build a studio in Newark and Paramount has leased space in a studio in Bayonne.

The goal of the Expo was to connect vendors with industry leaders shaping New Jersey's cinematic future. There were about 80 vendors and about 4,000 visitors.

It was also an opportunity for New Jersey and its towns to talk about production possibilities within their borders.

For instance, the borough of Fair Lawn, which is looking for ways to use an old Nabisco site, was on hand to tout the borough's production possibilities.

Pulkit Desai, the mayor of Parsippany, who was also there, had similar thoughts.

Sherrill told the audience that the state has the backdrop for just about anything directors want - beaches, cities, small towns and woodlands. The governor said that the state capital of Trenton even has been used as a stand-in for Washington D.C.

Not only that, Sherrill said she knows the state also has the talent to fill whatever needs the film industry wants.

The locale for the Expo was the old Byrne Arena, the onetime home of the Nets and Devils. It is now used for special events - like this one - and also for filming.

Officials said parts of two recent films - Marty Supreme, starring Timothee Chalamet, and Deliver Me From Nowhere, a Bruce Springsteen biopic, were filmed in the arena.

The governor said that when Happy Gilmore 2 was filmed in New Jersey in 2024, it brought in about $152 million to state businesses.

Sherrill said recent stats show that New Jersey is about to become the third most popular filming destination in the nation - behind California and New York.

That sounds good, but not good enough. Sherrill wants to be number one.

"New Jersey is open for film business," she said.