Nine films that show how China influences Hollywood, from Iron Man 3 to Top Gun 2

References to Tibet, Taiwan or Japan and negative scenes involving Chinese people have been removed from major blockbusters

Here are nine films where China’s influence has been felt, whether by adding positive elements or removing the bad

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China’s influence in Hollywood can be seen in changes made to a number of blockbusters from Iron Man to Red Dawn (above).

Published: 8:15pm, 20 Aug 2019Updated: 7:58pm, 21 Aug 2019

With China accounting for nearly a third of the total US$576 million box office taking of this year’s smash hit Avengers: Endgame, it’s easy to understand why Hollywood is eager to tap into the country’s massive and lucrative film market. At the same time, Chinese companies are also increasingly sinking fortunes behind the scenes into American blockbusters.

You will be surprised just how pervasive Chinese influence is in US cinema, dictating everything from dialogue to costume choices and in some cases changing films almost in their entirety.

Here are some of the more egregious examples of China’s heavy hand in Hollywood that you might have missed.

Top Gun: Maverick (2020)

When the trailer for the new and hotly anticipated Top Gun sequel dropped in July, fans quickly noticed a change had been made to Tom Cruise’s iconic flight jacket: the Japanese and Taiwanese flags had been removed, replaced by what appear to be nonsensical symbols.

The offending Japanese and Taiwanese flags (left) were altered on Tom Cruise’s jacket in the second Top Gun film.

While the studio hasn’t commented it doesn’t take much imagination to guess who would have been most upset by references to a country that China fought bitterly in World War 2, and Taiwan that China doesn’t view as a separate country at all but a restive breakaway province.