Stocks are falling for U.S. film studios — including The Walt Disney Company and Comcast, owner of Universal Pictures — after President Trump announced his intention to implement 100% tariffs on movies produced outside of the U.S.
Movie Tariffs
President Trump wrote on Truth Social that other countries are offering “all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States,” which he said is “a National Security threat.” He said he is authorizing the Commerce Department and U.S. Trade Representative to “immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” (via Variety)
Details of the tariffs aren’t clear yet. For example, it’s not known if films that were already produced and are now in pre-production or poised for release will be subject to higher tariffs.
Disney’s stock was down from $92.52 to $89.70 on Monday morning, while Comcast’s fell from $34.46 to $34. Both remain down, although they have steadily climbed higher throughout the morning.
Movie studios and producers were shocked by Trump’s announcement.
“This makes no sense,” a U.K. producer told Variety. “It implies that a U.S. film is meant to shoot in the U.S. But the ‘Harry Potter’ films, ‘Lord Of The Rings,’ ‘Schindler’s List,’ ‘Mission Impossible,’ ‘Gladiator,’ ‘Aviator’ and so many more are U.S. films that shot overseas for obvious reasons. Do these films have to shoot in the U.S. from now on? It’s an absurd announcement with no meaning nor understanding of storytelling or creative impulses.”
A new “Harry Potter” TV series is in development from HBO and is expected to film in the U.K. at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden. However, Trump didn’t address how these tariffs would affect TV shows.
A London-based producer said, “If this goes the distance, it will decimate the industry. But you can’t just stop production. When does it come into effect? What about movies in pre-production, that are shooting or in post? Would you just double their costs? None of this has been thought through. So I think the calm response is: Let’s see what this means, let’s see the fine print.”
After the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes, film production in the U.S. is down 40%. (via Variety)
“Avengers: Doomsday” is in production at Pinewood Studios in England. “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” in theaters this July, was also filmed at Pinewood and in Spain. “Thunderbolts*”, in theaters now, was mostly filmed in Atlanta, Georgia, but also filmed on location in Kuala Lumpur.
Disney’s other major live-action franchise, “Star Wars,” also frequently shoots outside of the U.S. “Andor” was primarily filmed at Pinewood and on location throughout the U.K. Principal photography for “The Mandalorian and Grogu” was in Los Angeles but it’s not clear where future “Star Wars” movies will film.
As for Universal, both “Wicked” films were shot in the U.K. at Sky Studios. Though filming is complete, “Wicked: For Good” is still in post-production and won’t hit theaters until November 21, 2025. The upcoming live-action “How to Train Your Dragon” was filmed in Belfast, Northern Ireland. “Jurassic World: Rebirth” was primarily filmed in Thailand and the U.K. “M3GAN” and its upcoming sequel, produced by Blumhouse and distributed by Universal — were both filmed in Auckland, New Zealand.
As reported by DiscussingFilm on X, The White House says that “no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made.”
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