“There are many unknowns for our industry, but until we know more, there’s no doubt it will send shock waves worldwide,” Matthew Deaner, director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, told the AAP news agency.
Trump’s move appears to target a business model favoured by American studios and filmmakers who obtain subsidies or tax breaks to film in countries such as Britain, Canada, Ireland, Hungary, Spain and Australia.
These countries in turn benefit from jobs being generated by the filming and tourism revenue.
Many blockbusters are partially or entirely filmed outside the United States including some Marvel superhero movies, James Bond adventures and, most recently, Tom Cruise’s “Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning”, which is due for release this month.
The New York Times last month published an investigation into the notable decline of productions made in Los Angeles and said: “Nothing short of Hollywood, as we know it, is at stake.”
One union representative compared the decline to that of the automobile industry in Detroit half a century ago. The major manufacturers are still headquartered there, but the factories have disappeared.
