Donald Trump’s ludicrous film tariff plan likely to mean major ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ delay

The movie industry is currently in turmoil as Donald Trump‘s promise of a “100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands” sinks in. Trump is aiming at countries offering incentives for Hollywood studios to film abroad, which he describes as a “national security threat” and “propaganda”.

It’s unclear exactly how and when this movie tariff will happen, but Trump insists that it should “immediately begin”. This announcement is a nightmare scenario for major studios, but particularly for Disney and Marvel Studios.

Avengers: Doomsday began principal photography at London’s Pinewood Studios on Apr. 28 and is scheduled to be there for the next six months, and its massive budget was offset by the UK government paying 25% of that as an incentive to shoot there. UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves even specifically mentioned the Avengers when unveiling their incentives plan in February.

Marvel Studios shooting Doomsday and Secret Wars in Pinewood was no surprise. Black Widow, Eternals, Deadpool & Wolverine, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and The Marvels were all shot there, with directors appreciating the depth of British production crew experience and the technical VFX facilities on offer. Now, all this may have to change, and fast.

What’s next?

Pretty sure this puts an immediate block on production of #Avengers #Doomsday and #SecretWars. $DIS has budgeted for the UK government paying 25% of the $1bn cost. This is more than wiped out by the tariff so production has to shift to the US where there is no 25% reimbursement pic.twitter.com/Eb46f085XX

— Movieconomics (@movieconomics) May 5, 2025

Doomsday is the precise kind of movie Trump has in his sights for a tariff – an American production shot overseas taking advantage of foreign tax breaks. It’s unclear exactly how tariffs will be applied to a movie, but when it comes to a billion-dollar prospect like Doomsday, the tariff cost to Disney and Marvel Studios may end up in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

That means Disney and Marvel Studios have an incredibly tricky decision in front of them. One option is to continue filming in the United Kingdom as scheduled. After all, Trump may simply be blowing hot air, these tariffs will never happen, or prove too complex to be administered. But that’s both a gamble and, as a megabudget tentpole blockbuster, they’re painting a target on their back if they’re thought to be openly defying Trump.

The other option is to simply pause production, throw away the week of footage that’s been shot, and relocate to Pinewood Atlanta (aka Trilith Studios). But it’s not quite as simple as packing the sets up and flying them across the Atlantic. Marvel Studios will have to wait in line for other productions to wrap to have the space, need to find a crew and backstage team, and set up a new production headquarters. Then there’d be the financial untangling and contractual disputes involved in canceling the British shoot, not to mention the scheduling issues with the massive cast.

Basically, it’s a massive headache but if Disney really is weighing that against the cost of a massive tariff, it may be the only economically feasible option. If this happens, a release date delay will be inevitable, and Doomsday needing to be a summer blockbuster would mean it’d likely take Secret Wars‘ release date of May 7, 2027. And, of course, that’d push Secret Wars back to 2028…