PVR Inox, Ranbir Kapoor-backed firm's shares slide 5% as Trump slaps 100% tariff on foreign films

Shares of cineplex chain PVR Inox and Ranbir Kapoor-backed production house Prime Focus declined 5% on Tuesday, responding to U.S. President Donald Trump's Monday announcement that he would impose a 100% tariff on all foreign-made films.

Trump announced the measure in a post on his Truth Social platform, claiming U.S. movie-making is losing ground to international competition. "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.

The move-- the third such in the last two weeks-- comes as a fresh setback for global trade. Earlier, Trump had announced a 100% tariff on branded and patented drugs imported to the US. He also issued an executive order that raised the annual H-1B visa application fee from $1,000 to $100,000 per applicant. The Trump administration later clarified that the fee was one-time and only on new applications.


The step signals Trump's willingness to extend protectionist trade policies into cultural industries, raising uncertainty for studios that depend heavily on international box-office revenue and cross-border co-productions.

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This announcement brought fresh troubles for PVR Inox, which is already reeling under correction pressure. The stock fell 3% intraday to hit the day's low of Rs 1,073.50.

PVR Inox shares have fallen over 36% in the past year, and the stock has slipped below its 50-day simple moving average of Rs 1,082.7. It is down 60% from its peak of Rs 1,707 on the NSE, which it had hit on this day, in the year-ago period.

As for Prime Focus shares, the decline was sharper. The stock fell 5% to intraday low of Rs 175.94. The smallcap stock with a market capitalisation of Rs 5,453.03 crore has been in action lately. The stock hit its 52-week high of Rs 203.70 on September 24. The stock fell amid high volumes. The spurt in volumes on the BSE was over 1.35 times.

The post-production and visual effects company behind the upcoming film Ramayana hit their 10% upper circuit during intraday trade on Thursday after swinging back to profit in Q1, posting a net profit of Rs 110.47 crore.

Reuters reported that it was not immediately clear what legal authority Trump would use to impose a 100% tariff on foreign-made films.

White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on how the tariffs would be implemented. Warner Bros Discovery, Comcast, Paramount, Skydance and Netflix also did not immediately respond to requests.

Shares of Netflix were down 1.5% in early trading.

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The US President had first floated the idea of a movie tariff in May but offered very little details, leaving entertainment executives unsure whether it would apply to specific countries or all imports.

Prime Focus, established in 1997 by Namit Malhotra, has grown from a small post-production house in Mumbai into a global force in the VFX and animation industry. The company owns Double Negative (DNEG), a leading visual effects studio that has worked on blockbuster Hollywood titles such as TENET, Dune: Part Two, and Oppenheimer. DNEG’s body of work has earned eight Academy Awards, solidifying Prime Focus’ standing in the global entertainment arena.

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