Hollywood should have seen it happening. After starting commercial wars on cars and steel, solar panels and washing machines, Donald Trump added films to the list.
The announcement of Patus on Truth Social on May 5 that he plans to slap a 100% price on films “entering our country produced in foreign land” sent shock waves in the world entertainment industry.
The plan – if an article of 113 words, a large part written in screams by screaming and also returned by a spokesperson for the White House, can be considered a plan – seems to be trying to force the studios to shoot more films in America by imposing a levy from tents that run abroad, in countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain and Australia, and take advantage of local tax incentives.
Even if such a price was legal – and there is a debate on the question of whether Trump has the power to impose such direct debits – industry experts are disconcerted on the way in practice, a “film rate” would work.
“What exactly does he want to put a price: the production budget for a film, the level of foreign tax incentive, his receipt of tickets in the United States?” Ask David Garrett from the International Group of Film Sales Mister Smith Entertainment.
The details, as so often with Trump, are vague. What is precisely a “foreign” production is not clear. Should a production be mainly drawn outside America – Warner Bros' A minecraft filmLet's say, who filmed in New Zealand and Canada, or Paramount Gladiator IIShot in Morocco, in Malta and the United Kingdom-to be “foreign” under the prices, or is it enough to have foreign locations? Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts *For example, filmed in Malaysia, but did most of its production in the United States, Atlanta, New York and Utah.
Does the nationality of its director, actors, screenwriter and talent below the line play a role? Or is funding the key determinant? Although tax incentives can considerably reduce production costs, most studio productions are still obtaining the majority of their funding from the United States.
“The only certainty at the moment is uncertainty,” notes Martin Moszkowicz, producer of the German mini-mattress Constantine, whose credits, especially Monster hunter And Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. “It's not good for business.”
The main production of the strength driving track is net profit. With national tax incentives, a reduction in costs for local teams and, in certain territories, direct production subsidies for co -productions, running a film in Vancouver, Queensland or Sofia, Bulgaria can be 40 to 60% less than to make the same film
“Once you have turned in these places – the Czech Republic, Malta, Australia, New Zealand – you realize that the quality is good, it is in fact fairly cheap and the tax credits are really working, very well,” explains Simon Williams, financial film with the London Ashland Hill Finance group.
A levy punishing on flight productions can make more expensive, but it will not make films in the United States. For independent films, notes a veteran producer, a 100% price “means that most of these films will simply not be made”.
The main studios, of course, have deeper pockets, but their financing plans and their production hours, especially for international shoots, are often years. James Cameron spent the best part of two decades building his tailor-made production center in New Zealand to do his Avatar Films – Disney and the 20th century will be released Avatar: fire and ash December 13 – and should make at least two others, the production planned to extend until 2031. Marvel Studios has just started filming in London for Avengers: DoomsdayMay 1, and will start on the co -production of Sony Spider-Man: A new day in the British capital on July 31. Just over a month after Warner Bros Bros Bros.'s main photography. Supergirl: woman of tomorrow.
No one is likely to drop everything and go home, just on the say of Trump.
“But what could happen is that the studios push the break button and delay production production on the films they planned to shoot outside the United States,” explains Henning Mulfenter, the former head of film production and televised at the German studio in Babelsberg, who supervised the international shoots of the Russo 'brothers' Captain America: Civil War and Lana Wachowski Matrix resurrections. “As we saw during Corona and during strikes, the simple production break can do a lot of trouble in our activities.”
Damage could be aggravated if national governments are starting to equal the Trumps Tit-For-Tat prices, which puts the international box office-about two thirds of Hollywood revenues come from the outside of the United States-in danger.
“In accordance with everything Trump does and says, it is an erratic action, poorly designed and poorly considered,” said Nicholas Tabarrok by Darius Films, a production house with offices in Los Angeles and Toronto. “It will negatively affect everyone. American studios, distributors and filmmakers will suffer as much as international studios. Trump simply does not seem to understand that international trade is good for parties and prices not only penalize international companies, but also increase prices for American companies and consumers. He is a `Everyone loses, no one wins politics.”
Etan vlesing contributed to this report.
