International
Trump to slap 100 per cent tariff on foreign films?
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump has declared war on foreign-made movies. The American president announced on Monday that he would impose a 100 per cent tariff on all films produced outside the United States, threatening to blow up Hollywood’s international operations. As well as possible revenues that Indian films make in Uncle Sam.
The move, posted on Trump’s Truth Social platform, marks an audacious expansion of his protectionist trade agenda into cultural industries. “Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing candy from a baby,” he wrote, taking a swipe at California’s “weak and incompetent” governor Gavin Newsom.
Yet the announcement left crucial questions unanswered. The White House offered no details on the legal authority Trump would invoke or how such tariffs would work in practice. Studio executives are baffled: modern filmmaking splices together production, financing, post-production and visual effects from multiple countries. How would a film shot in New Zealand with British money and American stars be classified?
Legal experts are equally sceptical. Films are intellectual property traded as services—a category where America typically runs a surplus. That raises doubts about whether tariffs can even be applied. Co-productions with foreign studios have become routine, further muddying the waters.
Trump first floated the idea in May, calling foreign productions a “national security threat” that imports “messaging and propaganda.” Entertainment executives were flummoxed then and remain so now.
The industry has increasingly decamped from Hollywood to chase tax breaks in Britain, Australia and New Zealand. California is scrambling to compete: Newsom has pushed to expand the state’s film tax credits. But some productions film abroad simply because their stories demand it. Directors like Denis Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan favour shooting on location rather than on soundstages.
The major American studios declined to comment to Reuters. Netflix shares, however, slipped 1.5 per cent in early trading.
The silence from studios suggests an industry still trying to parse whether Trump’s threat is bluster or genuine policy. Either way, it signals fresh uncertainty for an entertainment business already grappling with streaming upheaval and rising costs.
International
Utopai Studios unveils 4K three-minute video generation for PAI platform
New Story Agent and editing tools aim to streamline AI-led filmmaking workflows
MUMBAI: Utopai Studios has announced a major upgrade to its PAI storytelling AI platform, introducing what it claims is an industry-first capability to generate three-minute videos in 4K resolution, alongside enhancements to its Story Agent feature.
The update, rolling out from April 15, expands the platform’s capabilities across the filmmaking process, from early concept development to post-production. The company said the new features are designed to help filmmakers maintain continuity across characters, scenes and visual styles, a key challenge in AI-driven storytelling.
At the heart of the release is a next-generation model that enables more structured narrative development, allowing creators to move more seamlessly from idea to execution. With tools such as multi-shot sequencing and multi-turn editing, the platform aims to give both studios and independent creators greater control over complex storytelling workflows.
Commenting on the launch, Utopai Studios co-founder and CTO Jie Yang said, “The next phase of AI in media will not be defined by isolated tools, but by systems that can carry story, continuity and collaboration across the full creative process.” He added that the update is a step towards enabling more practical, end-to-end narrative development at a professional level.
Echoing this, Utopai Studios co-founder and chief scientific officer Zijian He said, “Generative video is opening the door to a new production model, where creative ambition is less constrained by traditional cost and complexity.” He noted that the platform combines multimodal models with iterative editing to give creators more speed, control and consistency.
The company said PAI is already being used in professional film and television productions, particularly in Hollywood, for tasks such as pre-visualisation, scene design and post-production refinements. The latest update adds features including improved voice options, character consistency, unlimited editing and more flexible asset management.
Utopai also emphasised that its models are not trained on copyrighted material, positioning the platform as a cleaner alternative for creators and rights holders navigating the evolving AI landscape.
As AI continues to reshape content creation, Utopai’s latest push signals a shift from standalone tools to integrated systems, aiming to make high-quality filmmaking faster, more flexible and increasingly accessible.
