From post-war liberation to the supremacy of the Cold War, America's soft power has never been more powerful than projecting onto a movie screen. For decades, Hollywood has brought American heroes (from Rick Blaine to John McClane, Rocky Balboa, Ethan Hunt and Captain America) - as the natural protagonist of the planet: the first responder to global chaos, the last defense of tyranny. But as Pax Americana begins to disappear, as Donald Trump weakens allies, erodes the rule of law and blends with the dictator, the studio faces a question about their long history: Are American heroes still attracting the vast world?

"The Trump administration has launched a campaign of shock and awe — only this time, for our allies, has it changed the way many people in the world think of us? Yes, and reasonable," said Kal Raustiala, professor of law and international relations at UCLA. "Alliances are surprised, confused and more alert to us today - which is likely to translate into the spending of their euro or yen on downtime. We've seen that in the tourism industry. It would be a surprising thing if there wasn't a fight back to the screen."

In its latest quarterly survey published on March 4, research firm Yougov found that U.S. views in Europe have fallen to its lowest level since Trump's election, ahead of an escalation of aggression on the Brock economy by tariffs on the president's "liberation day". Currently, in Europe, no country has a country that has a attitude towards more than half of the U.S. population from August 2024 to February 2025, with Germany’s enthusiasm falling from 52% to 32%, while in Denmark (Denmark) - Trump has surpassed Greenland by threats of force - positive views on the U.S. are over 20%.

“Historically, Hollywood has played a dual role in the soft power of America: it has made the country a source of naturally attractive pop culture, and it has also proposed an attractive moral system and lifestyle that has a different lifestyle than elsewhere,” said Nicholas Cull, a professor of public diplomacy at USC Annenenberg. “Hollywood tells the world about the importance of democracy and the rule of law, even if it demonstrates the prosperity that American-style capitalism conveys to ordinary citizens.”

"Most Europeans grew up on images of these heroic cowboys or American soldiers doing rescues, but it looks very different from the Trump administration that Russia embraced."

As with the full impact of Trump’s tariffs in other departments, it is necessary to assess the damage to the attractiveness of his administration’s hostilities and rhetoric on U.S. content across borders. So far, studios’ slowdowns have begun offering limited benchmarks by 2025.

Disney and Marvel's Captain America: A Brave New World Industry insiders say that more pressing issues than the geopolitical context it releases (as its B-Cinemascore shows), but its eponymous certainly doesn't help on territories around the world. Since its release on February 14 A brave new world Of the total of $415 million in the global box office total, it won 51.7% of the total box office sales of the first three movies in the series.

“There will be some discounts that are bad for businesses that are already challenged,” said Noah Segal, co-president of Elevation Pictures, Canada’s leading independent distributor, adding: “I certainly don’t think we’re going to watch a heroic American war movie right now – if that’s done, it could be split.”

International audiences will continue to have the sacrifices of American spies and diplomats in popular streaming series that are committed to upholding democratic ideals – such as Netflix’s diplomat and Night Agent Or Michael Fassbender Agent For Paramount+ - remains to be seen.

"International buyers may start to be alert Yellow stone"- Style, all-American series and movies," said executives at a leading European film sales company.

Of course, the American film industry is not promoting business. Many of the most precious classics in 20th century American filmmaking are clear criticisms of American foreign policy Dr. Strangelove arrive Deer Hunter. However, some paradoxically, these works also enhance international admiration for the American way of life.

Raustiala of UCLA explained: "When Hollywood began to criticize American foreign policy more directly - Movie Revelation Now or go homeBoth addressed Vietnam - they strengthened the U.S. soft power by showing possible objections and criticism. For example, this is something the Soviets would never allow. Our relatively free society is showing all of these films. ”

However, studios have not produced dramas yet, which are most of a generation. The unfortunate fate of Trump's biopic last year apprentice Talking about this type of challenge.

The film premiered by positive reviews and had eight minutes of positive reviews at the Cannes Film Festival, becoming a breakthrough in the awards ceremony, earning two Oscar nominations, namely Sebastian Stan, playing Trump and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn. However, no major studio or streaming media has stepped up the release of the film. Those close to the film say professionals succumb to self-censorship, worrying apprentice In the global theater, some kind of angry revenge may be caused by Trump administration regulators or investigators. In any case, few people doubt whether the movie was picked up by Netflix (through in the movie) and released in the 2024 U.S. election. The world also rarely appreciates the world for its boastful ideals in the United States and its plot.

In fact, American studios’ disgust of political nerves or principles is nothing new. More than a decade ago, they began scrubbing their biggest film, American Nationalism, and their clear commitment to human rights and democracy. The goal is pragmatic: to ensure a smooth entry into the drama market that China once launched but is strictly controlled. But the subtle quality remains insufficient when local political tensions intensify. After Trump launched his first trade war with China in 2017 (just like Chinese commercial films are improving rapidly), local audiences began to stay away from American blockbusters. Today, Marvel's tentacles account for about one-tenth of what they once did in the country.

Ironically, from one perspective, the studio’s internal institutional practice is that keeping escapist products ideologically benefit them at all costs in the current, troubled moment. As long as there is no “America” in the title, superhero movies may make it relatively easy for global audiences to detach from Trump’s first American movement. Even Tom Cruise's last outing Task: Impossible - The final estimate There are more deals expected to be about global nostalgia than any reflection of today's geopolitical reality, or there are many industry insiders who seem to hope and believe.

But, as Hollywood largely avoids the inherent emotions caused by Trumpism, international industry is leaning towards it.

Elevation Pictures doubled the storytelling in Canada, hoping to take advantage of rising “elbow” sentiment caused by Trump’s tariffs and his insulting “51st State” remarks. “Canadian content will definitely upgrade Canadian content, and I think something similar will happen in other international markets,” Segar said, noting that the company is even considering adding a “Made in Canada” label to all its local film marketing.

Trump's contempt for the classic neoliberal American soft power (and the values ​​and institutions that uphold it) could harm American interests in ways that his tariff regime and totally ignorant of real-world trade theory.

"The film business is always looking for something new, and this feeling of global anger is very real," Segal said. "This won't help the American industry. Everyone else around the world will take the opportunity. It will internationalize the film business."

Sabine de Mardt, president of German division of French studio Gaumont, recently thr: "Some kind of narrative - the great American dream narrative we once so closely identified in Western Europe is being questioned and reconsidered. There is a new opportunity to enhance our European identity, and I really look forward to that."

The story appears on May 7 of Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.