Americans Want to Tax Film Franchises to Fund the Arts
By Andrew Mangan and Mark White
The Walt Disney Company made its name on adapting fables into popular, problematic animated films, such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King. But this reliance on existing material entered a new phase in the 1990s, when Disney began to remake its own adaptations. Since 1994, Disney has remade or spun-off sixteen of its adaptations—twelve of which have been released in the past six years. The most egregious example of this trend is 2016’s The Jungle Book, which was the second live-action remake (after 1994’s The Jungle Book) of its adaptation (1967’s The Jungle Book) of Rudyard’s Kipling’s plagiarism (1894’s The Jungle Book).
Disney shows no signs of stopping, either, with sixteen more remakes forthcoming. One of these films will be the sequel to the 2019 remake of 1994’s The Lion King, another alleged plagiarism and a film with at least nine sequels, short films, and TV spin-offs. The CGI sequel’s announcement was met with mixed reactions, given director Barry Jenkins’s illustrious career and the mostly negative reviews for 2019’s The Lion King.
This film’s announcement as well as the recent trend of remakes, reboots, sequels, and “film universes” led New Republic writer Osita Nwanevu to propose on Twitter a tax of film franchises, the money from which would fund arts grants and education programs. Though Nwanevu noted that First Amendment issues could arise, Data for Progress wanted to test the public’s response to the tax.
From September 30 through October 1, 2020, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,146 likely voters, asking them: “Many movies are sequels, prequels, reboots, remakes, or based on existing franchises. Would you support or oppose a federal tax on these movies, where 2 percent of the revenue they make would fund grants and education programs for the arts?” Respondents could indicate strong or somewhat support or opposition, or they could indicate that they did not know.
Overall, likely voters support taxing films that are based on preexisting intellectual property—and by a robust margin. Fifty-six percent of voters support the tax, while roughly a quarter of voters (24 percent) oppose it. About one in five voters (19 percent) aren’t sure. There is wide, bipartisan support for the tax, too. The tax is supported by a majority of likely voters who self-identify as Democrats (63 percent) as well as those who self-identify as Republicans (57 percent). A near-majority (48 percent) of likely voters who self-identify as independent or as belonging to a third party also support the policy, with the net support at 20 percentage points.
This is just one of the many examples of progressive policies that the electorate supports. While Republicans might disagree with slogans like “tax the rich” or “fund the arts,” we find that specific policy details nonetheless yield widespread support, and that the public can be nuanced on this subject. Movies from preexisting intellectual property are among the most profitable and beloved franchises in popular culture (Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter, and so on), yet majorities across many demographic groups in the electorate would favor taxing these films to fund grants and educational programs for the arts.
Andrew Mangan is a senior editor for Data for Progress
Mark White is a senior advisor to Data for Progress.
Methodology
From September 30 through October 1, 2020, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,146 likely voters nationally, using web-panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is +/- 2.9 percentage points. Some values may not add up to 100 due to rounding. Subgroups with n < 50 are not shown here.