The Democrats cited an Ernst & Young study they commissioned in 2008 that showed increasing the tax credit from $10 million to $30 million would create 4,350 high-paying jobs in five years, generating $311 million in new wages and nearly $1 billion in economic output by production companies.
A 2010 study by the Tax Foundation, a Washington think tank, supported the administration's view.
"Movie production incentives such as film tax credits, cash rebates, grants, and select tax exemptions fail to spur economic growth or raise tax revenue," the study said.
Caren Franzini, CEO of the state Economic Development Authority, recommended in February that the program be abandoned after existing obligations were fulfilled.
After reviewing national studies, findings of the state Treasury Department, and "the questionable returns that the program provides to the taxpayers of New Jersey," the authority could not support continuation of the program, she wrote.
The state would likely lose money on film credits, according to Treasury economist Charles Steindel.
Christie vetoed a $420,000 credit to MTV's Jersey Shore reality series in May, saying the show hurts the state's image.
The Democrats made their latest appeal in Fort Lee, the nation's motion picture capital until the 1910s, when filmmakers discovered they could work year-round in California's more temperate climate.
The lawmakers said it was ironic that as the Directors Guild of America is recognizing the contributions of Alice Guy Blaché - the French-born U.S. filmmaking pioneer to be honored posthumously in New York on Thursday - New Jersey's policies had driven film production out of state.
They cited two television shows, Law & Order: SVU, which cited the loss of the credit when it left New Jersey for Manhattan, and HBO's Boardwalk Empire, which is based in Atlantic City but receives a tax break for filming on Long Island.
