Video: Iron Man 3's China Push is Sign of Things to Come for Hollywood
A decision by the producers of Iron Man 3 to cut a special version of the film exclusively for the Chinese audience has stirred up a discussion of how far Hollywood will go to tap the world's second-largest movie market.
In a segment on Huffington Post Live, ChinaFile Managing Editor Jonathan Landreth said Hollywood producers will likely continue to seek unique ways to lure Chinese viewers to their films in order to woo a country where "ticket sales have soared," while the North American market has plateaued.
"If publicly traded companies like Hollywood studios are going to make movies and they must answer to their shareholders and show profits, they’re going to go where the money is," Landreth said.
Landreth, who covered the movie industry in China for publications including The Hollywood Reporter and The New York Times, added that U.S. moviemakers need to get creative to market their films in China in part because censors may interfere with content. When marketing to countries such as Japan, formerly the world's second-largest market, movie-makers did not face the same restrictions.
Watch the entire discussion above.
ChinaFile is a new not-for-profit, English-language, online magazine published by the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society.