The threat of President Donald Trump to apply a 100% tariff to the films produced outside the United States (although vague in details) would probably have affected many of the highest American films of this decade, including the “Avatar” and “Barbie” franchise, both among the many box office hits that were filmed in the United Kingdom, New Zealand or in other places.
“Avatar: The Water Camino”, which reached theaters in 2022 and is the highest grossing film of this decade so far with more than 2.3 billion dollars in box office income, was largely filmed in New Zealand thanks to government subsidies.
Although “The Way of Water” avoided Trump’s threat to impose strong tariffs on the films produced outside the United States, there are three more “Avatar” films in preparation, including one that will be released at the end of this year, which could be affected if Trump meets his tariff threat.
Trump said in a publication in Truth Social on Sunday night that he would impose a 100% tariff to films produced abroad because the American film industry is “dying very fast”, and described the loss of national cinematographic production before other countries as a “threat to national security.”
The schedule for the tariff proposed by Trump, and if you have the authority to impose tariffs on films, it is not yet clear, and the White House spokesman, Kush Desai, told Associated Press on Monday that a final decision has not been made with respect to the tariff.
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What recent box office successes were filmed outside the US?
“Avatar: The Water Camino” (collected 2.3 billion dollars): filmed in New Zealand, produced by Lightstorm Entertainment, director James Cameron, based in the US.
“Barbie” (collected 1.4 billion dollars): filmed in the United Kingdom, produced by American companies Mattel, Luckychap Entertainment and the British Heyday Films.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” (collected 1.3 billion dollars): filmed in the United Kingdom, produced by US companies Marvel Studios, Maximum Effort and 21 Laps Entertainment
“Jurassic World Dominion” (collected 1,000 million dollars): filmed in the United Kingdom, Canada and Malta, produced by American companies Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment and The Kennedy/Marshall Company.
“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (collected 955.8 million dollars): filmed in the United Kingdom, produced by Marvel Studios
“A Minecraft film” (collected 873 million dollars): filmed in New Zealand, produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, based in the US.
“Without time to die” (he raised 774.1 million dollars): filmed in the United Kingdom, produced by the American company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and the British company Eon Productions
“Thor: Love and Thunder” (collected 760.9 million dollars): filmed in Australia, produced by Marvel Studios
“Wicked” (collected 753.9 million dollars): filmed in the United Kingdom, produced by Universal Pictures, based in the US.
“Dune: Part two” (collected 714.6 million dollars): filmed in Hungary, Italy, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, produced by the US company Legendary Entertainment
What next 2025 tapes occurred outside the US?
Several 2025 movies were shot abroad, although it is not clear if the films that are already finished would be subject to Trump’s possible tariff.
The next movie of the “Avatar” franchise, “Avatar: Fire and Ash”, opens in December and filmed in New Zealand. The next “Mission Impossible Mission”, “Mission: Impossible-The Final Accounts Adjustment” was produced by the American Skydance Media and filmed in the United Kingdom, Italy, Malta, South Africa and Norway.
The next real action remake of the animated film “How to train your dragon” was produced by the American company DreamWorks Animation and filmed in Northern Ireland.
The next Brad Pitt F1 film was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and Apple Original Films, based in the United States, and filmed in Formula 1 racing tracks worldwide, including the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Hungary, Japan, Italy and Belgium, with additional filming places in the United States.
Lee: Trump orders 100% tariff to the films produced abroad to protect Hollywood
Why does cinematographic production in the US decrease?
The productions in Hollywood and other parts of the United States have decreased in recent years, mainly due to pandemic, labor strikes and financial incentives offered by locations abroad.
In 2024, the Produro research firm discovered that the number of film and television productions in the United States had decreased 40% since 2022, while worldwide had decreased by 20%.
Some countries have approved fiscal exemptions for films in recent years to attract productions, including the United Kingdom, which announced a 40% corporate fiscal decline for cinematographic productions in 2024 and an additional tax credit for independent films.
Hungary also extended a tax credit of 30% in October for six more years, while Denmark joined other Nordic countries by establishing a fiscal incentive for films in November.
How has the industry reacted to Trump’s threat?
New Zealand film producer John Barnett told The Spinoff to the local environment: “Like everything else Trump has done, he totally lacks logic,” stating that much of the plan is not clear.
“What will Trump do if ‘M3Gan’ comes here and spends 200 million dollars here? Are you going to charge 200 million dollars? And who will pay them?” Said Barnett.
“This makes no sense,” an anonymous British producer told Variety, questioning whether the many box office successes that are filmed abroad would need to film in the United States now.
An American film company Anonymous told Deadline that the tariff “destroy the independent sector” because “we cannot make films with the same budgets, the actors will not receive the same fees and the list continues.”
Many Hollywood shares fell on Monday after Trump’s announcement, including Netflix, whose shares fell 4%, which cost the company 20 billion dollars in market capitalization losses.
Lee: Canada Alert that new Trump tariff threat will damage audiovisual industry
Trump announced in January that he would appoint actors Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson and Jon Voight as “special ambassadors” to bring back the cinematographic productions to Hollywood.
Bloomberg reported in April that Voight planned to present to Trump ideas to revitalize Hollywood productions, including tax credits, infrastructure and labor training investments.
This article was originally published by Forbes US
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