Cinema is also affected by the duties of Trump. In a post on Truth, the President of the United States has announced that he had commissioned the Department of Commerce and the representative for the trade to start the procedure to introduce one 100% rate on all the films produced outside the United States. “We want again films made in America!” He wrote, accusing directors and American production houses of having turned his back on Hollywood to take advantage of economic incentives abroad.
Trump’s idea
Trump traced an alarming picture of the situation of the US film industry, stating that Hollywood He is rapidly losing land under the pressure of foreign competition and tax incentives offered by other countries. According to him, the transfer of productions outside the United States would even constitute a threat to national security. However, it did not clarify how duties nor which types of films would actually be affected by the measure would be applied.
Film production in the United States has recorded a 26% decrease from 2021due to the prolonged impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2023 strikes and the fires that hit California. To stem the crisis in the sector, the Californian state has enhanced its program of tax incentives, bringing it from 330 to 750 million dollars a year, while other states, such as Georgia, New Jersey and Texas, have strengthened their facilities to attract productions.
The hypothesis of a 100% rate on foreign films is part of a wider design, already started by Trump during its mandate, which provides for up to 145% on goods from China and minimum rates of 10% on other imported products. The stated goal is to relocate industrial production – including the cinematographic one – on the US territory.
How much is the Italian film exports worth
To now, it is difficult to say how much this decision will affect Italian cinema. According to the latest data, the Italian series and films on foreign markets are worth between 106 and 156 million euros, according to an Anica report concerning until 2023. But second Marco Gambaroprofessor of media economy at the Milan State University, “Italian cinema exports, despite what many insiders also believe is very low”.
“The interchange with our main partners is almost always very negative”, writes Gambaro on X. “For example – explains the professor – Italian film tickets seen in France are a fifth of the French tickets sold in Italy. (Export and import). Germany exports in Italy double the tickets of those that our films sell from them”, as happens also with Spain.
According to the data, our exchange is quite positive with Poland, Swiss (because of the Canton Ticino), Greece, Portugal And Holland. But negative with Spain, Belgium, Sweden and Denmark.
What are the most viewed Italian films in the United States
Despite the structural difficulties of the sector, Italian cinema has been able to conquer the American public over the years, especially thanks to works capable of combining universal artistic qualities and narration. Below, a ranking of Italian films who obtained the major collections in the United States:
- Life is Bella (1997) – 57.6 million dollars;
- The postman (1994) – 21.8 million dollars;
- Bread and tulips (2000) – 5.3 million dollars;
- Mediterranean (1991) – 4.5 million dollars;
- Malèna (2000) – 3.4 million dollars;
- The Great Beauty (2013) – 2.8 million dollars;
- The tiger and the snow (2005) – 1.5 million dollars;
- Gomorra (2008) – 1.5 million dollars;
- The star (2008) – 1.3 million dollars;
- The best youth (2003) – 1.2 million dollars.
