Tricky business: Catering to Chinese viewers a hurdle for Hollywood

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All of this has Hollywood scrambling to find the right mix. Transformers 4 will star Chinese actors Han Geng and Li Bingbing and feature scenes shot in China. Most innovatively, it has cast some roles in the movie from a television show aired in China.

The growth of the Chinese film market is being driven by the government, which is supporting the construction of 25,000 new cinema screens over the next four years, according to a 2012 report by business consultant Ernst & Young.

"The challenges for media and entertainment companies to penetrate China are still considerable. However, the vast potential of the market makes it impossible to ignore," the report said. "Companies will need to understand that investing in China is a long-term proposition, and those who can make that commitment will be in a much better position to succeed."

Although White House Down director Roland Emmerich said he does not believe cooperation or consciousness of the Chinese film market will affect the way in which individual filmmakers make movies, others have admitted that such considerations have powerful sway.

"If someone came to me and said, 'We're looking into doing a chunk of this in China,' well, I'd have to think about it," director Joss Whedon told Entertainment Weekly, referring to Avengers 2. "China is on my radar. It can't be at this point."