‘IRON MAN 3’ Getting Chinese Co-Production. I See, I See.

Iron Man 3  is getting going, with rumors about villains and castings and other fantastic shiznit. All sorts of interesting. Not as interesting as this announcement that the film will have a Chinese co-production partner.

io9:

It’s a sign of things to come –  Iron Man 3  is getting funding (and input) from Chinese sources. A Chinese marketing and entertainment group, DMG, is putting money into the Tony Stark threequel, and in return they’re getting to make it more China-centric. (DMG, for what it’s worth, also funded  a near-hagiographic film about Chairman Mao.)

The BBC quotes Disney’s general manager for China, Stanley Cheung, as saying:

We know Chinese audiences love Iron Man. So we are going to add Chinese elements and a Chinese story into Iron Man 3.

China is becoming a huge market for American films, and is slowly loosening restrictions on how many U.S. films can be shown there. So this is one way for  Iron Man 3  to get more funding and secure a huge potential audience. And perhaps, if  Iron Man 3  does end up featuring the Fu Manchu-inspired villain The Mandarin, having some input from actual Chinese people could be, you know, helpful.

Eh. Who cares? Do you?