PAuvre Hollywood … After platforms, the pandemic, strikes and fires, the Mecca of cinema sees a fifth plague in five letters: Trump. last Sunday (Monday morning Paris time), the American president put in turn a room in the large studios’ major depression machine by announcing, on his own Truth Social network, reflect on the possibility of a measure that has strangled the profession: 100 % customs duties (therefore multiplied by two) applied “to any film arriving in [leur] countries that are produced abroad ”. And Donald Trump, after starting his post with a soberly expressed observation (“The film industry in America is dying very quickly”), concluding his missive with a vibrant: “We Want Movies made in America, Again! (We want films again made in America!) (SIC).
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Thrown into the pond just a few days before the 78e Cannes Film Festival, this Trumpian Pavé as vague as it is spectacular aroused in a few hours an outcry. “It makes no sense,” storms a British producer in the columns of Variety. “What he says therefore implies that an American film must be shot in the United States. But the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Mission Impossible, Gladiator, Avatar And so many others are American films shot abroad for obvious reasons. Should they be shot in the United States? It is an absurd announcement that does not understand anything about creative imperatives. »»
We will also add that the last Marvel, Thunderboltswas partly put in Malaysia, while Minecraft: Le Film (Warner Bros. blockbuster) put its cameras in new Zealand and Canada, without forgetting the shots of Gladiator II In Morocco, Malta and Great Britain.
Rachida Dati “not worried”
The absolute imprecision of Donald Trump’s words plunges the whole planet cinema into an abyss of questions: what productions would these customs duties apply by 100 %? The only American films shot abroad? In what proportion? Would the new tax be calculated by counting on the screen the number of minutes actually filmed outside the United States? Co -productions such as James Bond, Mad Max or even more modest profiles like The Substance Would Coralie Fargeat be concerned? Are entirely foreign films targeted? French productions exported to the United States such as Anatomy of a fallfirst tricolor film of the American box office in 2023 with $ 3.7 million in revenue that year (ie the… 151e Place in the classification*), will they suffer from it? What position would the tax hit?
Read too Behind the scenes, the film “The substance” was “Apocalypse Now”! This Wednesday, May 7, the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati on Wednesday, May 7, for her part, wanted to reassure the microphone of France Inter: “I am not worried. These measures will remain, according to her, “at the stage of announcements” and would first attack the American cinema. “Cinema is a very profitable industry for the United States, which is exported a lot […] Today, American filming represents 15 % of the shooting market in France, which is not major. We remain very attractive to cinema, by our tax systems, by the quality of the cinema trades, and because we have invested massively – 350 million euros – in filming studios. “And the Minister recalls that, in the French vision, cinema” is an art which must escape the pure laws of the market “.
Stop to fire: as early as Monday, in the aftermath of the incendiary remarks of its occupier, the White House in any case returned, by the voice of one of its spokespersons Kush Desai: “Although no final decision on the customs tariffs of foreign films has been taken, the administration explores all the options to respond to the directive of President Trump aimed at protecting the national and economic security of our country, in Hollywood its greatness. »»
Donald Trump poses a fair observation, but …
And whatever one thinks of the form, the background expressed by Donald Trump corresponds to the real: the laws of the market also govern the industry of 7e art. In recent years, European countries have competed to the absurd of colossal tax incentives to attract Hollywood productions, while in California, the lung of this industry in the United States, the number of days of shots collapsed. In the first quarter of 2025, these shoots accused a drop of 22 % compared to the same period in 2024, a year already designated as the worst in the sector since the pandemic, according to the Filmlala organization. Nationally, a report by the Prodpro platform dated July 2024 noted a fall of around 40 % of film and television production in the United States compared to the 2022 levels.
According to the Hollywood Reportertoday, thanks to ever more advantageous tax credits and a cheap local workforce, shooting a film in Canada, Australia, Bulgaria or France can reduce the bill for a film from 40 % to 60 % compared to the option of its shooting in Los Angeles. The economy is therefore the nerve of war and, according to Nicolas Brigaud-Robert, founder and co-president of the export and financing company of the Playtime cinema (In fanfare, Mr. Aznavour…), Trumpian intention is not illegitimate: “The primary intention of Donald Trump is to relocate American filming to America, because the country is very competed abroad by these tax credits made in Europe and elsewhere to the production companies according to the local expenses incurred. The problem of a 100 % customs duty hitting films shot abroad is that it strikes in fact The whole of foreign cinema: American productions would then be exposed to retaliatory measures that would weigh on the recipes of American films. »»
Trump ignores the specificity of economic models of cultural industries and cinemaNicolas Brigaud-Robert, co-president of the Playtime distribution company
For our interlocutor, “Trump ignores the specificity of the economic models of the cultural and cinema industries, whose value of the things manufactured (films) is only a small element of the upcoming economic flow which is the set of recipes. He treats movies as if they were cars. Except that a car, once manufactured and sold, has exhausted its economic value. A film, beyond its local expenses and the economic impact of its shooting, continues to generate royalties, and in particular via the foreigner. On average, 70 % of American films revenues come from abroad, this is typically the case with Disney productions. So whether or not they are shot in the United States, these films generate money far beyond their manufacture. »»
If by chance the Trump administration applied this 100 %customs tariff, a company like Playtime could be directly impacted: “We present two films in Cannes in 2025: The Eagles of the Republicfrom Tarik Saleh (in competition) and The richest woman in the worldby Thierry Klifa (excluding competition). They will be available for sale in the United States. If Trump’s measures were in place – but I do not believe it – the purchase of American rights would be twice as high for the American company to which we will entrust the distribution on the spot, since it should pay customs duties multiplied by two. »»
Trump vs All-Hollywood
Director General of Comscore France, Éric Marti judges that we are still far from the end clap in this case: “We have no decree, no text explaining the details of the measures, so wait … Trump’s announcement aims in any case especially in the first place blockbusters Tourné in England [notamment aux studios Pinewood]in Canada and Australia. These are these shoots, which are co -productions, which he absolutely wants to repatriate. In 2024, there were 23 in the top 100 of the American box office, against 6 in 2023. “Paradox of this whole case: while he claims to want to save the 7the Art made in USA, Donald Trump is once again for a palpatine to fight merciless in the eyes of professionals.
Read too Hollywood Ko Standing in front of Trump’s victoryA sub -intrigue is added to all this psychodrama which will not fail to fuel conversations on the Croisette: a certain pleasure of the American president to provoke the high cries of Tout-Hollywood, which he continued to stigmatize in his war against wokism during his electoral campaign. “Is he trolling us because we have not voted for him?” »Asks an anonymous source of the sector in Variety. Donald Trump’s snoring appointment last January last January Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone as his “special ambassadors” in Hollywood, in order to be “her eyes and her ears” in “this major but very agitated place”, constitutes a serious index. In the wake of Trump’s customs announcement, Jon Voight detailed by press release, on May 5, his plan to combat American productions abroad.
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The kangaroo of the day
Answer
Evoking only briefly the customs stick, the ex-star of Macadam cowboy, deliverance et Heat Above all, has focused on measures ranging from federal tax incentives to subsidies for operators and production and post-production companies. “The president likes the entertainment industry and this country, and he will help us make his greatness in Hollywood again. We look forward to working with the administration, unions, studios and streaming platforms to help develop a plan to maintain our healthy industry and bring more productions to the United States. »Blessing or sixth plague to come for poor tortured Hollywood? Odyssey to follow …
* Source : Comscore France.
