Hollywood has passed its glory days having lost ground in the past two decades in a global battle with countries like Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, Hungary and Morocco which attract filmmakers with tax incentives. Other countries also have lower labour costs.
The British Film Institute said spending on film and high-end TV production rose by almost a third in the UK to £5.6bn in 2024 and almost two-thirds spent on UK film production was from five big American studios and three US streaming platforms — Netflix, Apple and Amazon.
Whether Trump’s blunderbuss threat of 100% tariff on non-US-made movies would work is questionable. “How can you put a tariff on a Netflix show made in the UK and distributed worldwide over the internet?”
Though it is assumed the levy would damage production hubs outside of the USA. And the US film industry and cinema chains would also be hit hard, likely to have to swallow higher costs, and consumers could face higher ticket prices. Shares in Netflix fell 2 per cent on Monday.
The Hollywood chart, 1 February 1887, is not facing a good two years ahead with the Mars in Pisces square Pluto catching hard aspects from tr Uranus from this August and through 2026 for agitation, insecurity and alarm; with a calamitous setback from Solar Arc Mars conjunct Saturn in 2026 as well. Tr Pluto square the Jupiter may give a minor lift in 2026/27 at the same time but the minuses may outweigh the pluses.
Pinewood, the UK film studio, set up in 30 September 1936, home to many US movies, is looking rattled at the moment with tr Pluto square the Venus into 2026; and tr Uranus square Mars also in 2026; with a financial confident-dent in 2027 from SA Neptune conjunct the Jupiter.
Disney Australia, 1 May 1998, involved in the production of numerous major films, including The Matrix, Moulin Rouge!, Mission: Impossible 2, Star Wars Episodes II and III, Superman Returns, and Son of the Mask, is looking devastated this year as well with tr Pluto conjunct the Neptune.
Atlas Corporation Studios in Ouarzazate, Morocco, another film hub, founded 1983, – “Gladiator,” “Kingdom of Heaven,” “The Mummy,” and scenes from “Game of Thrones will also be affected.
As will Origo Studios in Budapest, Hungary, which opened in spring 2010 – Dune, Blade Runner: 2049 Inferno, The Witcher. Its biggest foreign partners include Warner Studios, Legendary Entertainment, SONY Pictures, Netflix Studios, Amazon Studios, Lionsgate, StudioCanal, Skydance, Gaumont, TNT, Paramount Pictures, Alcon Entertainment, Disney, FOCUS Features, Columbia Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox. Like the other charts it looks trapped, infuriated this year and uncertain in 2026.
Donald Trump and Hollywood are not a good mix with H’s North Node in Leo conjunct his Mars; H’s Neptune conjunct his Midheaven; and H’s Mars on his Descendant square Pluto in his 10th – very competitive. The relationship chart has a composite Mars conjunct Algol in line for a tr Uranus conjunction from the 28th of this month which looks anything but supportive – an explosive jab in the ribs – and uncertainty rolling through 2026/27. His relationship chart with Pinewood if anything looks worse.
Jon Voight, actor of yesteryear, Angelina Jolie’s father is reputed to be the instigator of this latest diatribe. Born 28 December 1938 11.50am, New York, he is a Sun Capricorn square Saturn in Aries with a forceful Mars in Scorpio opposition Uranus in Taurus. His Jupiter does fall on Trump’s Descendant but it is not a great mix with his Mars opposition Uranus square Trump’s Pluto which could destabilize the latter. Their relationship chart looks edgy and uncertain in the extreme moving forward with tr Saturn Neptune in hard aspect to the composite Mars opposition Mars Neptune and tr Uranus conjunct the composite Sun Saturn.
Another ill-thought-out, unrealistic manouevre which will backfire but not before it has caused maximum instability.
We already bend over backwards to accommodate America’s film and television industry. There is always a major American actor in our productions, as well as American based producers, or networks. And this has a great deal to do with distribution, which won’t touch foreign productions without American dabs all over it.
We even change the language in British productions to put in American slang or pronouncing words with American pronunciation, or as in the case of Miss Marple showed the British tax year starts and endings being January 1st, snd December 31st, which it definitely isn’t in the UK.
And all because, we mustn’t confuse the American viewer. You know there are Americans that don’t know that 007, James Bond is British. All those films that showcase GCHQ, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, the Tower of London, Abbey Road, the Millennium whatever it is Ferris Wheel and Big Ben and they don’t know that it’s London. It’s enough to make you cry!
Sigh. ETTD, as Rick Wilson coined the term — Everything Trump Touches Dies. I wonder what aspects of life, both US domestic and internationally, won’t be adversely affected by Trump. He’s a one-man wrecking squad.
Does the astrology show him to be so destructive to everything he touches?
Everything trump touches dies. He is touching America. I am afraid.
He is touching the world. I am petrified
@Surchin, I am, too, but, watching politics as closely as I still do despite my best efforts to distance myself somewhat, I’m not as scared as I once was. I’m seeing strong signs of resistance which become stronger by the day. I’m also encouraged by the opposition our once-traditional allies in Europe, Canada, Australia, Mexico and Asia are showing. Many people and most foreign governments are not bowing down to Trump as he expected and demands. It’s going to be a rocky few years requiring enormous strength and resilience to endure and survive, but I do see new, younger leaders emerging among the Democrats and a greater willingness to fight back. I personally have been out in the streets protesting, along with many of my friends. I see the opposition growing only stronger and more determined as Trump and his flunkies grow more egregious in their efforts to destroy the country’s values, government and democracy. We can’t give up!
He’s a Sun-Uranus so he is naturally a disruptor. Unfortunately it’s in Gemini so it’s superficial idea, constantly changing. Then he has Saturn in Cancer which hinders his ability to nurture projects through to change. His Leo mars on the ascendant is egocentric, he has no concern for others.
He lacks earth for stability and caution to make projects work; he lacks empathy because his only water is Saturn-Venus conjunction.
I don’t support him but he is creating the change that needs to occur when cycles come to an end. He will destroy everything so others can rebuild later.
That’s a very good summary of Trump, GD and resonates with how I make sense of these times and the current era. I grew up with a highly Uranian sibling so in some ways Trump’s chaos feels familiar yet still has the capacity to trigger those childhood feelings of instability, potential volatility and not knowing what’s going to happen next.
Thinking about Uranus in myth, he really isn’t the nurturing type of father. He’s a primordial sky god in an incestuous marriage to his mother, Gaia the first god to come into existence after Chaos. Repulsed by his own children, the Titans because he considered them too ‘earthy’ and imperfect he attempts to eliminate them by pushing them back into Gaia’s womb. It was only when Gaia, along with her son Cronos plotted to overthrow Uranus, eventually castrating him with an adamantine sickle that the Sky god’s reign came to an end.
Overall, it will be interesting to see the effect of Neptune in Aries on the film industry. Neptune was in the same position of Aries as it is now in 1861, the year of the American Civil War. It popped back into Aries later that year, moving forward into Aries for good the following year. The American Civil War was the first significant war to be photographed. A technical known as the wet-plate collodion process enabled a shorter exposure time, though it had its limitations by today’s standards it was the first time that the general public were able to see the awful results of war in all its reality.
Neptune is also connected with chemicals and along with the chemical advances made in the field of photography, the art of embalming became popular as the result of the Civil War, a practice which eventually became commonplace in the USA.
* back into Pisces
Thanks Marjorie. What a mess. I understand Voight’s suggestion was for much more modest tariffs, and other financial schemes. Certainly, as things currently stand, 100 percent shows no understanding of the film business whatsoever. So it may just be another example of hyperbole, hoping for other countries to come to some kind of tedious ‘deal’ with the US industry. Tr Uranus in Gemini will no doubt see the back of this nonsense. Hollywood was built by immigrant talent. Now it is possible to have a good career in the film industry without having to go to Hollywood permanently. And that is the future.
February’s Solar Eclipse at 28 Aquarius, square Uranus in Taurus, look like it might shake things up further. It is conjunct Hollywood’s S Node in Aquarius, square its Neptune and Asc, plus impacting D. Trump’s natal Leo Mars and Asc from the 7th house of partners and open enemies….
Interesting that as Neptune, ruler of film and fantasy, moves into combative Aries, this erupts.
It’s not only the tax breaks in the UK’s case – we have many of the best technicians in the world. If this goes ahead it could devastate the workforce here.
Pinewood’s Moon is conjunct Hollywood Sun/Moon midpoint. Like the saying goes “when America sneezes, Britain catches a cold”! Pinewood is a significant tax revenue, not good news at all.
Interesting that Hollywood’s North Node is conjunct Trump’s Mars in Leo and Hollywood’s Neptune conjunct his Midheaven because his cameo appearances in films (“The Secret of My Success,” “Home Alone 2”) and his reality TV series “The Apprentice” helped burnish his reputation as an avatar of capitalism and wealth, in spite of his bankruptcies, lawsuits over failure to pay bills and other business woes.
Reminds me that I’ve never really gone into why Cinecittà sank slowly into the sunset.