Could Hollywood really be GREAT again? Trump thinks so

by Summer Lane

Photo: Alamy | Analysis by Summer Lane

On Thursday, President Donald Trump made a truly surprising announcement when he revealed that he appointed film stars Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone to be “Special Ambassadors” to Hollywood, California, in a bid to revive what he called “The Golden Age” of movies.

“They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!” the president wrote on Truth Social.

There’s a sardonic twist in Trump’s appointment of these three Hollywood titans of film: the appointments seem to suggest that he is handling the hostile entertainment sphere as if it were a foreign country, and it makes a lot of sense. Hollywood and the media as a whole has been incredibly anti-Trump for years. Privileged celebrities like Chrissy Teigen and Robert De Niro have openly and obnoxiously criticized the 45th and soon-to-be 47th president, and their divisive rhetoric has failed to land with mainstream Americans who just want to see a good movie and leave the politics at home.

Since the Covid pandemic, the movie-making machine of Hollywood has changed substantially. Straight-to-streaming movies on platforms like Netflix and Hulu have become the new norm, and under the Biden regime, entertainment has also become increasingly progressive.

Between few-and-far between movie releases in theaters and progressive messaging, Hollywood has failed to consistently churn out fun franchises and action films for years. Who can forget when Lightyear, Pixar’s anticipated Toy Story spinoff film, bombed egregiously at the box office in 2022? According to Inside the Magic, the film grossed only $220 million – a disaster for a film with a reported budget of around $200 million. Why? Critics say it was because the film featured a same-sex couple kissing, which caused a massive backlash with parents who otherwise would have taken their children to see the movie.

Last summer, a Disney-streamed Star Wars series, The Acolyte, wildly underperformed, and it may be unsurprising why: the show featured arguably “woke” storylines and characters, according to the New York Post, with the creator stating somewhat ambiguously, “I don’t believe that I’ve created queer, with a capital Q, content.” It seems that audiences rejected it either way.

Recently, Disney has changed their tune in light of the incoming administration. The company announced in December 2024 that they would remove a transgender storyline from an upcoming streaming series, recognizing in a statement that “parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.”

Is it possible that Hollywood could be born anew? Could America – and the world – once again experience the fun and entertainment of a good blockbuster film without being forced to sit through LGBTQ plotlines or narratives about white colonialism?

President Trump certainly thinks so. He said in his statement this week that Gibson, Voight, and Stallone would be his “eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest.” Clearly, the president is putting Hollywood on notice – the status quo of divisive, anti-American filmmaking and commentary is not going to fly under the Trump administration.

A pro-American, inspirational, and uplifting mindset could revitalize Hollywood entirely. Instead of the industry being used to promote agendas that are antithetical to American values and beliefs, the film industry could instead elevate creativity, highlight beauty, and inspire amazing talents to come together for the good of their country. It could change the world for the better.

“It will be again, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood,” President Trump concluded in his statement.

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