President Trump has yet to make Hollywood great again, as according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, the “Hollywood of the South” just lost one of its biggest players, Disney Marvel.
According to the report, Disney’s Marvel Studios has pulled the plug on filming in Georgia, abandoning a state it helped turn into a production powerhouse over the last decade.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Marvel is now shifting its upcoming slate — which included The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and includes the next Spider-Man, and two new Avengers films — to the United Kingdom, where production is cheaper thanks to lower labor costs and comparable tax incentives.
“Tax incentives lured studios to help build the ‘Hollywood of the South.’ Now they’re going overseas for cheaper labor costs,” states WSJ.
Georgia’s Film Industry Hit Hard
For years, Georgia attracted big-budget Hollywood productions with generous state tax breaks, building what many called the “Hollywood of the South.” Marvel alone shot nearly two dozen films and shows in the Atlanta area, bringing billions to the state’s economy.
But that boom appears to be over. WJS says that film production spending in Georgia has dropped nearly 50% in just three years, down from 412 projects in fiscal 2022 to just 245 in the year ending June 2025. While industry-wide belt-tightening is partly to blame, the move overseas is mostly about one thing: money.
“Rising costs in Georgia mean it’s now cheaper to shoot in the U.K…”
“…Its tax credit is similar to Georgia’s, but workers there are generally paid less, and studios don’t have to cover their health insurance.”
Marvel Joins the Overseas Exodus
As noted, Marvel isn’t alone. Universal shot Wicked in the U.K., and Barbie was filmed at the same British facility now being used for Marvel’s productions. Disney already holds a long-term lease on a major studio outside London, making the transition easy – and assuming nothing changes – likely permanent.
In contrast, WSJ reports that in the U.S., 29% fewer productions with budgets over $40 million have started filming this year compared to 2022. In the U.K., production has risen 16%.
It’s an absolute bloodbath: No recovery in sight
Reddit user RedditAdminsAreStans responded to WSJ’s report on r/movies:
I was in production in the south for over 15 years. I just worked my last production in May and started a “real” job. It is an absolute bloodbath out there for film crews, especially for my New Orleans brothers and sisters. I know over a dozen NOLA crew that have had to move and switch their local union to chase the incentives and they’re still struggling to find work. The rest have left the industry like I did.
I think a lot of people don’t realize that working in film isn’t a “job”. Each show is a contract and you have to fight to get those calls ahead of other contractors/companies. You have to negotiate your hourly rate against other bids, you have to negotiate your equipment rental rates against other bids – every job you have to do this.
After the strikes, a race to the bottom started with rates and rentals and it has been severe. Labor rates have dropped as much as $17/hr to do the same job, rental rates have dropped over $1000/week for the same gear. So even if you’re getting work, you’re making substantially less money. Film work is well and truly f-cked with no recovery in sight.
Where’s Trump in All This?
Trump has spoken out on Hollywood outsourcing.
Back in May, Trump proposed a 100% tariff on movies produced outside the U.S., calling foreign-made films a threat to the domestic film industry. The plan, which caught much of Hollywood off guard, seemed to be aimed at discouraging studios from importing content made abroad.
But here’s the catch: the tariffs target foreign-produced content being brought into the U.S., not productions leaving the U.S. for cheaper labor markets like the U.K. That means when Disney and Marvel shift Avengers or Fantastic Four to studios outside London, the impact on American jobs — like the ones in Georgia — isn’t directly addressed by Trump’s policy (correct me if I’m wrong).
Trump hasn’t directly commented on Marvel’s exit from Georgia or the broader collapse of the “Hollywood of the South.” But it’s worth noting: in the 2024 election, Georgia flipped back to Trump after going for Biden in 2020, which is a clear sign that many Georgians still back his agenda.
So maybe Trump is playing the long game? Let the Hollywood elites pack up and head to the U.K., and once they’re gone, he can get to work on making Georgia great again, this time without all the baggage.
Meanwhile, in January 2025, Trump appointed Mel Gibson, Jon Voight, and Sylvester Stallone as “special ambassadors”—his self-described “eyes and ears” in Hollywood. The trio is tasked with helping revitalize production in the U.S.
