Donald Trump’s vision of Zollywood: does he ruin so Hollywood?

“Customs”, US President Donald Trump (78) will not tire of emphasizing, is his favorite term in the dictionary alongside “God” and “Religion”. The global economy has already felt this in a painful way since it was taken in at the beginning of 2025: surcharges on foreign products in the sometimes three -digit percentage range were interpreted in many places as the tangible trade war of the United States. And the film world is no longer immune from that, it seems.

It is an absurdity that so many Hollywood productions are not produced in Hollywood at all. Trump’s reflex-like and supposed solution to this problem, which he even in his in-house X-Klone Truth Social as: tariffs of 100 percent on films that are being created outside the USA.

A former Hollywood size is said to have finally brought him to this thought: Angelina Jolies (49) alienated father Jon Voight (86), whom Trump had to name alongside Sylvester Stallone (78) and Mel Gibson (69) in January.

But what would the implementation of this plan really mean for the dream factory? And can he even be implemented?

The fact is: the creation of a blockbuster film, regardless of the actual country of production, is a thoroughly globalized undertaking. The experts for visual trick and computer effects can have the company headquarters in one that specialists have for sound effects in a completely different country. And if the United States is not to be used for incredibly expensive studio buildings in the future, shooting in other countries is simply unavoidable.

An American medieval film, but without real castles as a setting? An internationally acting agent like Ethan Hunt or James Bond, who can only pacify computer -generated metropolises around the world in the future? And should it also affect series: does the next “White Lotus” relay inevitably play on the Gulf of Mexico – Pardon, on the Golf of America?

Using the example of: Since the American company Amazon took over the creative management, fans of 007 have been wrong anyway. If Bond is now fully robbed of its British homeland for customs cost reasons, they would probably run storm. And how do you mix a Martini without London Dry Gin?

In the case of US productions that are rotated or completed elsewhere for cost or logistics reasons, a flat-rate surcharge of 100 percent “import fee” does not seem to be feasible.

In the case of US remote productions, the facts are easier and the consequences would be dramatic. If, for example, a 100 percent custom was found for a German film in the future, distributors would certainly consider carefully whether it is still paying off to bring the film to the US market. After all, he would have to be twice as successful there to deal with current sales.

With the foreign independent and arthaus cinema, this cost-benefit question would have to be answered immediately with “no”. The result: The variety of films in the USA decreases drastically, for filmmakers outside the USA, an immensely important market breaks away-the global film industry is suffering.

Since Corona, this has not managed to return to the numbers before pandemic. With Trump’s tariffs, the already battered business would be faced with further uncertainties. But with just a few exceptions, almost every strip is a financial risk for the film studios. With further costs, the number of potentially studio-ruining cinema flops would increase. At the same time, the willingness to turn innovative but not yet established ideas in a large style.

That even the driving forces behind Hollywood have been caught by Trump’s plans and cannot yet estimate what they mean. Next Friday, according to “The Hollywood Reporter”, the CEOs of Studios like Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures and Co. will meet for a crisis summit. Could the tariffs possibly retrospectively retrieve already completed but not yet published films? Unclear.

However, unity seems to be in one point: If Trump’s 100 percent tariffs become a reality, the consequences for the film industry would be devastating.

So far, Trump’s customs-borns primarily triggered vehemently counter reactions. Countries such as Canada and the European Union had immediately threatened to reel. In the case of China, even before Trump’s explicit Hollywood tariffs, the film business was made.

The Chinese film management: “The wrong procedure of the US government to abuse the tariffs in China will inevitably further reduce the acceptance of American films from the domestic audience. We will follow the market regulations, respect the election of the audience and to reduce the number of imported American films.”

If the Hollywood tariffs really occur, three things would probably end up in the end: job losses from filmmakers outside the USA, higher cinema and streaming prices for global consumers and at the same time a more one-sided range of films and series. That would be a lot, but certainly not Great.