On May 4, President Donald Trump announced that he was going to enforce 100% tariffs on foreign films in an effort to keep American film production in the United States and the American film industry from dying. If this were to go through, it would spell dark days ahead for the film industry.
When this was announced, confusion and pushback followed soon after. Former White House National Economic Council official Alex Jacquez called this move “nonsensical” and “a waste of time.”
Filming outside of the United States because it is cheaper than doing so domestically is a built-in part of filmmaking. This can largely be attributed to foreign cities offering big tax breaks and having tax incentives to entice movie productions to take place there.
Director Kris Holodak, Marquette’s Associate Professor in the department of Digital Media and Performing Arts, gave her thoughts on the situation.
“The challenge is that it is ultimately a business and so there is a tension between keeping costs of creation down while also paying workers a decent wage,” said Holodak. “If producers can shoot cheaper elsewhere they will.”
Trump’s film tariff proposal would potentially cause Hollywood film budgets to skyrocket because of the high costs to keep production in the United States. This would make it harder for films to succeed and break even for studios, resulting in financial flops and the eventual death of the American film industry. Keeping Hollywood film production solely in America is simply not feasible.
Trump’s film tariff proposal could also keep lucrative foreign content out of the United States. Even though one might think that Americans reject international media, content such as anime has proven to be massively popular here. In 2023, the U.S. anime market size was estimated at $2.21 billion. It is expected to grow by 15 % by 2030.
Even though anime films only make up a small percentage of U.S. box office revenue since only a few of them release every year, they are becoming more common. One of the most recent huge box office successes for anime films comes from 2020’s “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train.” It made $21.1 million during its opening weekend on April 23, 2021.
While this amount may not sound like much, it stands as the #1 foreign-language film debut in U.S. box office history. What makes this even more impressive is that it happened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Theaters were not operating at full capacity, and attendance was low. The fact that the film made that much money during that time period and holds such a special record speaks volumes about how much the American film industry benefits from foreign content.
The Academy Awards have also acknowledged foreign films. 2019’s “Parasite,” a South Korean film, won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards on February 9, 2020. It is the first non-English-language film to win this award. If Trump’s proposal were to happen, achievements like this would likely not happen anymore.
Content and collaboration from other regions help to diversify the film industry and make it stronger in the long run. Even though Trump has seemingly walked back his comments since then, and the full scope of his plan has not been revealed, nothing good could possibly come from these tariffs.
This story was written by Christopher Hayden. He can be reached at [email protected].