Chinese ‘Iron Man 3’ Footage To Be Released As Short Film

The exclusive Iron Man 3 footage incorporated into the Chinese release of the flick will be released in the US as a short film.

Quite a few fans were a little irritated that China was getting a handful of scenes not featured in the North American theatrical version of Shane Black’s sequel. However, Marvel has revealed that folks in the US will get to see the footage as a standalone short film.

The Iron Man 3 footage in question spends a bit more time with Dr. Wu (Wang Xueqi), who is only seen briefly in the US edition of the flick. Although the scenes apparently don’t amount to much — bloggers in the China weren’t overly impressed with the sequences — all of these moments are being edited into a short entitled The Prologue.

Some of the scenes found in the Chinese version of the sequel include a meeting between a young Stark and Dr. Wu, a telephone conversation between the doctor and Jarvis, and a moment which finds Wu healing Stark with acupuncture. All of this stuff will be spun together into the upcoming short film.

However, it’s currently unclear when The Prologue will be available for consumption. Chances are the film will be included on the Blu-ray release of Iron Man 3 that’s tentatively slated for later this year.

As China emerges as a strong market for Hollywood films, studios are bending over backwards to make sure their movies screen in the country. Since Chinese theaters can only show a limited number of foreign features every year, producers are going to great lengths to ensure their films are being seriously considered by officials.

Michael Bay and Paramount recently entered into a partnership with a handful of Chinese production companies to co-finance Transformers 4. In exchange for the cash, a large portion of the film will be shot at various locales throughout the country.

Did you catch Iron Man 3 in theaters? Are you looking forward to seeing some of the footage that was featured in the Chinese version of the film?