Hollywood exec behind ‘Iron Man 3’ China deal pushes American-made films
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A Hollywood executive who spent nearly two decades helping American studios break into the Chinese film market says the industry has now become too dependent on Beijing and says his latest film shows how things could turn around.
Veteran producer Chris Fenton, who worked to bring major productions such as “Iron Man 3” to Chinese audiences, later outspokenly criticized Hollywood’s dependence on China and wrote about his concerns in his 2020 book “Feeding the Dragon.”
“We were at a truly groundbreaking, pivotal point in terms of collaborating with this superpower and offering a product and service that had never before been available in this market in a way that could make serious money,” Fenton told Fox News Digital. “And we did that for over a decade, back in the really bright days between the U.S. and China for the entertainment industry.”
An aerial view of the Paramount logo on the water tower at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, California on February 23, 2026. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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Fenton began to realize that this relationship came at a cost. He said U.S. studios made creative and business decisions to please Chinese authorities, which resulted in them developing their film industry and spreading their message around the world.
“We appease both by allowing their domestic industries to learn and advance as quickly as possible to become best-in-class like Hollywood,” he explained. “We have censored our content and reprogrammed it to fit the narrative that Beijing is driving to gain access to this market.”
An example of this, he said, is the 2012 science fiction film “Looper,” starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Fenton said scenes of the story originally set in France were moved to China as the filmmakers tried to appeal to Chinese officials and audiences.
U.S. and Chinese flags are displayed at the American International Chamber of Commerce booth during the China International Trade in Services Expo in Beijing on May 28, 2019. (Jason Lee/Reuters)
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He argued that these concessions ultimately failed to preserve Hollywood’s position there.
“The proportion of this market was between 50% and 80% in Hollywood films. Now this proportion is less than 5%,” he said. “So not only did we spread Beijing’s messages to the world… but we also lost the market in the process.”
Around 2019, Fenton began speaking publicly about the long-term consequences of Hollywood’s dependence on China. But for Fenton, sounding the alarm about the problem wasn’t enough; he also wanted to show a way forward.
Master filmmaker Chris Fenton says his new movie “Bad Advisers” is entirely a US production. (Fathom Entertainment)
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That effort led to his new film, “Bad Counselors,” a comedy shot entirely in the United States and featuring an all-American cast.
“It’s a nostalgic story about summer camp,” Fenton said.
The film, which will be released July 23-27 through Fathom Entertainment, follows two fraternity brothers who pose as counselors at a Christian summer camp while completing court-ordered community service.
Fenton said the production employed about 1,200 Americans, from actors and writers to crew members and vendors.
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“We went out of our way to make sure we recruited and hired only Americans,” he said. “It was a really harmonious and wonderful process… we ended up with a really good movie.”
The producer believes that Hollywood should place more emphasis on domestic production at a time when the industry is facing economic pressures, layoffs and foreign incentives to launch film projects.
President Donald Trump announced last September that he would impose 100% tariffs on foreign-made US films. (Getty Images)
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He advocates for federal incentives to keep film and television jobs in America, arguing that America’s existing infrastructure and workforce are already the best in the world.
“All it does is it allows us to play on a level playing field with other countries around the world, and when we get there, we’ll actually be able to bring back exactly 2.7 million jobs. That’s about a quarter of a trillion dollars in wages, by the way, which is pretty incredible,” he said.
