The threat of Hollywood studios censoring movies to appease the Chinese Communist Party has long been a bipartisan talking point for U.S. lawmakers, including Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.).

Last week, Gallagher, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, toured California where he met with business leaders, including Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger and Apple

‘boss

Tim Cook to discuss

their business with China, those concerns

.

March

slang meetings, which also included conversations with film producers and filmmakers who have worked in or with China, did little to allay Gallagher’s concerns, he said

T

he Times in an interview on Monday.

“My concerns about censorship remain as strong, if not stronger, than ever,” Gallagher said. “It’s happening, no doubt. Everyone was completely outspoken about that. It’s a big deal.”

Gallagher urges studios to be more transparent about their experiences with Beijing and censorship. Studios have long adapted their films to access the world’s second largest box office market, where the government tightly controls what people can see there.

He was one of the members of Congress who signed Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) 2020 letter to then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek criticizing the Burbank company for collaborating with China to create a . part of the live-action “Mulan” despite the persecution of Uyghurs.

Congressman’s California

company

tour took place amid pressure from Republicans and Democrats to ban or enforce the sale of Chinese properties

video app

TikTok, om

meet convenience

Worry that parent company ByteDance will have to share user data with the authoritarian regime.

Gallagher said his meetings with the entertainment and technology companies produced no specific policy proposals or recommendations to address censorship concerns. However, he said he hopes the meetings will create more dialogue on the issue and provide insight into what he believes is an ideological competition with China.

Hollywood studios have faced criticism over the years for outdated films for China

.

“Top Gun: Maverick” caught the eye for a trailer that

DELETED

theTaiwan

ese and japanese flags

by

Tom Cruises

jacket.

And (

The flags were later restored to the

final movie

.

)

2019,

Universal Dreamworks’

“Abominable” was pulled from Vietnamese theaters because it had a map showing China

have had

property left

disputed territory

the South China Sea.

Studios have historically defended these practices, arguing that such changes to films are simply for the purpose of expanding their global reach.

similar to how they adjust movies for local sensibilities in other countries

.

But C

sensoring films in China

has consequences

what stories are told

because of the country’s global power

Gallagher said.

“It can promote anti-American messages,” he said.

“Even bending the knee to CCP (Chinese Communist Party) censorship is an anti-American move in itself and to the extent that we allow it to go beyond just tailoring a movie to a specific market and the CCP allow dictating what movie will be global I’m not saying it happens in many cases, which should be very disturbing.

“What we don’t want, but what the CCP ultimately wants, is for the CCP

–

approved version of the film to become the only version

to make that the global version

and that’s a clear red line we need to uphold.”

Gallagher said. There is also a fear of backlash to movies when an actor has also been involved

backlash when weighing on China

issues

. in 2021,

actor

John Cena pledged his respect for China and apologized for calling Taiwan a country while promoting his movie “F9”.

In

2019, the star of Disney’s “Mulan”

remake weighed in on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and

Strong support for the Hong Kong Police

which crushed pro-democracy protests

which led some consumers to boycott the film.

Dan, c

The controversy was further fueled

when that became known

Disney filmed part of the movie in Xinjiang where

that is estimated

more than 1 million Muslims have been forced into indoctrination camps.

“They had high-profile incidents that exploded in their faces, ‘Mulan’ especially among them and they were outspoken about that and made the argument that they’d sorted out their approval process,” Gallagher said, referring to Disney. “They claimed that this was a director’s or producer’s decision and that they didn’t know about it. They also claim that there are several instances where they refused to change creative choices at the behest of the CCP just because they thought it was would jeopardize the story.” I have to double check that when he mentioned Mulan, he meant it was filmed in Xinjiang.

Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Some studio executives have begun to rethink their self-censorship for China in recent years, as American films struggled to reach the box office heights they once achieved in the market. The Chinese box office is increasingly dominated by productions from Chinese studios, with government support. Hollywood films in China recently accounted for a small share of the box office in China, despite studio efforts to appeal to the Chinese government. In 2021, US films and imports from other countries accounted for 15.5% of ticket sales in China, compared to 36% in 2019, according to

consulting firm Artisan Gateway

. Even Disney is struggling to secure China release dates for its popular

Marvel Studios Movies

. The Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever, and the new Ant-Man installment, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, were the first Marvel Studios superhero films to be released in China since 2019.

Still, Gallagher said he is concerned about the changes studios are making in the early stages, even before the content raises a problem with the

CCChinese Communist Party

.

“Of course you’re going to censor at the front so you get market access, and we heard story after story about how the CCP dangles market access for Hollywood movies.

makers so that they themselves censor which films have already been made in the first place,” Gallagher said.”

You just wonder

There are virtually no CCP villains in a major American movie

as a kind of small piece of evidence around it

.”

Gallagher said some executives in Hollywood and Silicon Valley are still holding on

the This one

idea that more US involvement in China, with

more Disney brand theme parks and say more Disneylands and more

American movies, will

encourage China’s Chinese Communist Party

to be less aggressive.

“For me, the idea that we’re somehow pushing harder, that the relationship will somehow improve, I think has already proven wrong,” Gallagher said.

Some studio executives have begun to rethink their self-censorship for China in recent years, as American films struggled to reach the box office heights they once achieved in the market. The Chinese box office is increasingly dominated by productions from Chinese studios, with government support. Hollywood films in China recently accounted for a small share of the box office in China, despite attempts by studios to appeal to the Chinese government. In 2021, US films and imports from other countries accounted for 15.5% of ticket sales in China, compared to 36% in 2019, according to

consulting firm Artisan Gateway

. “It’s the CCP’s anti-market actions and the fact that they’re trying to promote Chinese movies,” Gallagher said. Gallagher herself has made no policy proposals to address the relationship between Hollywood and China. Hi

said Congress doesn’t want to dictate what kinds of movies the companies can or can’t make. In the past, the Armed Services Committee has considered denying studios access to Department of Defense assets in films that endorse Chinese

Communist Party

censorship, die Gallagher sa

i.e

“seems fair” to

it

.

“I think the wisest thing for movie studios to do when they form a P&L sheet is just put a zero in the column under China for how much money they expect to make from China and then make their movie the way they want to make it without it.” think about appeasing a CCP censor and then present it as it is,” Gallagher said.

In Silicon Valley, Gallagher said one area for possible legislation is controlling US capital or investment in Chinese artificial intelligence, quantum.

other

biotech companies. “We don’t want to fund our own destruction,” Gallagher said.