Iron Man 3 Extra Scene

[Quinton Hebenstreit]

IronMan 3's release in China featured the addition of four minutes of extra footage. At times, Hollywood and China have seemed to be opponents rather than allies, but it's now generally accepted that the Chinese market is becoming increasingly important to the American film industry. As such, studios have even changed movies for Chinese audiences, even though China's box office isn't as important as people think.

In the case of Shane Black's Iron Man 3, Marvel Studios' efforts proved to be a tremendous success. China was Iron Man 3's biggest international market; in its opening weekend, it brought in $64.5 million and, over the course of its run, grossed an impressive $121 million in total. Iron Man 3 was the highest-grossing Hollywood film of the year. Oddly enough, though, it received only a lukewarm reception from critics in the country.

The problem was that Iron Man 3 had an additional four minutes of footage in China, ostensibly an attempt by Marvel Studios to tailor the film for its Chinese release. On paper it must have seemed like a surefire strategy, but in reality it led to a massive amount of criticism. So how did this come to happen, what are these additional scenes, and did Marvel make a mistake?

As a co-production, Iron Man 3 would have been counted as a domestic release in China, and it wouldn't have been caught up in that quota. Unfortunately, Disney realized that there would also be a cost. An element of creative control would have actually been handed over to the Chinese government, and so Disney pulled back from the co-production idea.

The Chinese market remained important, and the partnership with DMG Entertainment was still on. So, instead of co-producing, Marvel Studios decided to film additional scenes that would be added to the Chinese release; although Marvel hoped these scenes would appeal to Chinese viewers, in truth this seems to have been done purely to placate the government. To further sweeten the pot, they hired two of China's biggest film stars, Wang Xueqi and Fan Bingbing; Xueqi's Dr. Wu was considered to be an important secondary character, conducting surgery upon Tony Stark to remove the Arc Reactor from his heart.

The Chinese version of Iron Man 3 begins with a question: "What does Iron Man rely on to revitalize his energy?" After a three-second blackout, the answer is provided: "Gu Li Duo." Marvel fans don't need to bother scrabbling through their Handbooks to try to work out what this is; Gu Li Duo is a Chinese milk drink. This isn't just product placement, though. Back in 2013, the Chinese government was trying to calm fears over the safety of domestic milk, because a major dairy company, Yili, had been forced to withdraw some of its baby formula due to mercury poisoning, thus leading to a boom in black market milk sales.

Another extra long scene served the same function, focusing on Dr. Wu taking a long drink of Gu Li Duo - just in case audiences hadn't gotten the message the first time. Meanwhile, another commercial later in the film is for a Chinese manufacturer of tractors and cranes. And then, yet another scene features Dr. Wu making a telephone call from his Beijing office, while a television screen shows Chinese schoolchildren cheering on Iron Man. Fan Bingbing plays Dr. Wu's unnamed assistant, who helps him perform surgery on Tony Stark in order to remove the Arc Reactor, and has an extended discussion with him about the operation. One final, tense scene discusses whether or not this has been a success.

Although these extra Iron Man 3 scenes were ostensibly added to reach Chinese audiences, they were clearly all about trying to make sure the Chinese government approved Iron Man 3 for the Chinese box office. Why else would Marvel focus on product placement that the government desperately wanted at the time? Given that's the case, it's hardly a surprise that popular reaction to these additional scenes was far from positive.

Xueqi once said that he signed up for Iron Man 3 because he was attracted to the complexity of Dr. Wu's character. Suffice to say, viewers disagreed; they were infuriated that Dr. Wu was essentially a throwaway character tossed in to help the film market Chinese products and pander to the government. The fact Dr. Wu's role was so diminished in the international version seemed to underscore Marvel's lack of interest in him; if he added so much depth to the film, why wouldn't those scenes be released everywhere?

The Chinese trailer was heavily criticized for being misleading, hinting that both Dr. Wu and Fan Bingbing's unnamed assistant were somehow crucial to the plot. The product placement was seen as over-the-top and, frankly, insulting to audiences. Chinese bloggers were highly critical online, with many preferring the non-Chinese cut. Interestingly enough, though, even the standard version of Iron Man 3 has a distinctive element of product placement in it - look closely and you'll see TV sets and mobile phones made by the Chinese company TCL.

Still, for all the popular backlash, it's important to remember that Marvel won big at the Chinese box office. The additional footage got the studio exactly what it wanted - a long run in the Chinese market. That said, it's interesting to note that this approach hasn't been repeated. In part that's because Marvel seems to have realized they didn't need to; Marvel films are blockbuster hits in China, with Avengers: Infinity War becoming the top-grossing Marvel movie in the country. Only one person will probably be disappointed about how all this has panned out: Wang Xueqi, who seemed to believe that his character would be important to the future of the MCU and a major figure in any further Iron Man movies. Instead, as far as most Marvel fans know, he's just a random doctor who operates on Tony Stark in one scene, and it's doubtful he'll ever be seen again. Western audiences really haven't missed out on anything with these extra four minutes.

Airmen from Los Angeles AFB pose for a picture with Actor Don Cheadle. The Airmen were featured as extras in a scene in the new Iron Man 2 movie. The film opened May 7. (Air Force Entertainment Courtesy Photo)

Select scenes from the trilogy play in a comic book style layout during the the first two minutes of credits for Iron Man 3. After approximately another 6:45 of normal credits crawl, the audio for the post-credits extra scene begins about 10-15 seconds before the credits end.

Just like the first and second film, there is an extra stinger after the credits of Iron Man 3. It lasts for over a minute. Check out full details below and spoilers regarding who shows up in the extra scene.

While Kingsley's villain was the same for all audiences, an additional four minutes of Chinese scenes were included for viewers in that country giving a minor plot twist and a few shots of female heartthrob Fan Bingbing and another local Chinese star, Wang Xueqi, against a Chinese background.

The extra scenes, produced exclusively for the version of Iron Man 3 shown in Chinese theaters, mostly revolve around the character of Dr. Wu (Wang Xueqi), who is seen briefly in the opening sequence of the U.S. version.

In the Chinese release, Dr. Wu also has a scene where he engages in a telephone conversation of Tony Stark's A.I. sidekick, Jarvis, and a scene in which he performs acupuncture-aided surgery on the wounded Stark, with the help of his assistant played by Bingbing.

Instead of standing up to Chinese censorship, desperate to secure the release of 'Iron Man 3' in China, Disney played ball with the authorities allowing the country's censors to vet scripts, visit sets in the U.S. and even give suggestions on other creative decisions.

Gu Li Duo is a milk drink which is on sale for less than $1 a carton in convenience stores across mainland China. It has had some Chinese bloggers like Kotaku scratching their heads as to whether such blatant scenes are even necessary.

A scene featuring Iron Man launching into the sky in front of Dr. Wu (Want Xueqi) and a group of cheering children was not only in the Chinese cut of the film, but appeared only in a sequence shown on a television set playing in the background of Dr. Wu's office.

The thinking seems to be, that if American films are to succeed in China and the studios want to stay in business, making adjustments for Chinese viewers is going to become part of the production process.

It has been a long process getting to this point and only last year did foreign films make up the majority of ticket sales in China - $1.41 billion out of $2.74 billion; American movies made up seven of the top ten films.

The state-run State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) is responsible for not only overseeing production in that country, but also the import of foreign films, setting strict standards on what its billion-plus population can and cannot see.

There are also financial benefits too. Shooting the film as a 'co-production' guaranteed a release in China and meant that a distributor could receive up to 40 per cent of box-office revenue, compared to a 25 per cent maximum for films designated as imports.

Others films are often less successful. Last year, scenes that were shot in Shanghai for the James Bond film 'Skyfall' had to be cut. A couple of minutes that portrayed the Chinese government as incompetent were removed.

The piece advised Chinese viewers not to lose sight of the fact that Chinese elements had been shoved into 'Iron Man 3' in a bid for tickets sales, but that the 'less-than-essential roles have been edited from the American version.'

As the Chinese market grows, studios are likely to adapt their films towards China's wishes. It will affect what the audience sees not just in China but around the world too with more stories set in the country and more Chinese or Chinese/American-looking actors taking on lead roles.

In some ways, producers and studios greedy for the huge pool of Chinese cash that's available may make a conscious move to switch the way in which they make their productions in order to comply with China's strict policies.

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