Gold Coast, Australian film industry reel at Donald Trump tariff on movies made overseas
The Gold Coast-anchored Australian filmmaking industry is on tenterhooks after US President Donald Trump announced a 100 per cent tariff on all movies made overseas.
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The lucrative Gold Coast-anchored Australian film industry risk decimation after Donald Trump slapped a 100 per cent tariff on foreign-made movies, with one insider saying “this is death”.
The tariff-prone US President said he would target countries offering incentives - like Australia and Queensland does - to attract filmmakers because the US movie industry is dying “very fast”.
“This is a concerted effort by other nations and, therefore, a National Security threat,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”
Mr Trump said he had authorised his commerce department and trade representative to immediately institute a 100 per cent tariff on all movies made in other countries.
“We want movies made in America again,” he said.
It’s the latest in a string of bruising tariffs imposed by Trump on imports to the US which sent the global economy into meltdown last month.
If the movie tariff is set up the same way it would cost companies double to make a film in Australia. For example, with a 100 per cent tariff, a film costing $20m to make in Australia would be charged a $20m tax if they wanted to sell it in the US. How or if that would be passed on to consumers is unknown.
It comes as the Gold Coast’s megabucks film industry surges, locking in another Hollywood blockbuster, with production underway at Village Roadshow for the latest instalment in of billion-dollar franchise Godzilla x Kong.
The yet-to-be-titled blockbuster marks Legendary Pictures’ fourth production in Queensland in under a decade.
Queensland Arts Minister John-Paul Langbroek added: “Queensland is a powerhouse of film supporting thousands of Gold Coast jobs and businesses and we’ll be demanding the Federal Government take up the fight against any draconian tariffs that put this industry at risk,” he said.
Federal Arts Minister Tony Burke said: “I’ve spoken to the CEO of Screen Australia and we’re monitoring this closely.
“Nobody should be under any doubt that we will be standing up unequivocally for the rights of the Australian screen industry.”
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate’s office said he was on a flight back to the Gold Coast, but his office was in talks with Screen Queensland about the Trump tariff.
The Gold Coast movie industry has been supercharged in recent years with a steady pipeline of big and small budget movies including San Andreas with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Johnny Depp and Pirates of the Caribbean, Aquaman with Jason Momoa and famed director Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis to name a few.
Mr Luhrmann shot and post-produced the entire film - starring A-lister Tom Hanks and Austin Butler - on the Gold Coast.
When Hanks returned for the global premiere at Pacific Fair he declared the Gold Coast one of the best places in the world to make movies, with the city often referred to as Hollywood 2.0 and Goldywood. Mr Luhrmann’s production company Bazmark’s managing director and Hollywood hotshot Schuyler Weiss relocated permanently to the Glitter Strip, with Bazmark set to be an anchor tenant in new creative movie studios hub being developed in Miami
Last year at the Australian version of the Oscars - the AACTAs - homegrown superstar Margot Robbie revealed she “absolutely” wants to make a movie on the Gold Coast.
“You know what, there’s huge water tanks at Warner Bros Studios at Movie World. Trust me I keep trying, it’s going to happen,” she said.
Blindsided Gold Coast movie industry insiders declined to comment so far on Trump’s shock move, with one saying it was too early to assess the impact of such a tariff.
One insider said this would be the “death” of the Australian film industry.
“I’ve never seen anything like this, except for the writers strike, but we knew that was going to end at some point,” they said.
“But this... this is death.”
Screen Queensland incentives aimed at attracting movie makers included a 10 per cent Regional Incentive and grants to fully financed projects which can demonstrate genuine interstate or international production destination alternatives.
In 2022-23, Screen Queensland generated an estimated $582 million in film and series production and post-production. This activity supported more than 4000 local jobs and helped establish Queensland as a leading screen industry location.
More than 60 local, interstate and international productions have been made in Queensland since 2015, contributing more than $2 billion to the local economy and creating more than 20,000 jobs for Queensland cast and crew.
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Originally published as Gold Coast, Australian film industry reel at Donald Trump tariff on movies made overseas
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