There's all sorts of meta-cinematic devilry going on in one of the strangest blockbusters of the decade – Iron Man 3. In one scene Ben Kingsley's nemesis, the Mandarin, halts for a lecture on the authenticity, or otherwise, of the "Chinese" fortune cookie – right before laying waste to Grauman's Chinese theatre in Hollywood: "Another cheap American knock-off." You can't help but wonder whether this particular tirade is Iron Man 3 writers Shane Black and Drew Pearce comment on the process of trying to adapt the film for Chinese audiences, and the bigger, east-facing game the whole of Hollywood is playing.

With an eye, like everyone else, on a fistful of yuan, Iron Man franchise-holders Disney and Marvel partnered with Shanghai-based media agency DMG, who also helped produce Looper last year, for the third film. But the suggestion last summer that Tony Stark might be making a radical turn towards China never quite transpired. The Mandarin was tactfully steered away from the yellow-peril caricature of the comics, becoming a prototypical icon of terrorism instead. Some scenes were filmed in Beijing in December; Fifth Generation veteran Wang Xueqi appears in an early party scene, and more of this material – including a cameo for starlet Fan Bingbing – will appear in a special Chinese cut.

And that's it. Another cheap American knockoff. It's essentially the same piece of blockbuster chinoiserie that we're seeing more and more these days as the studios make eyes at China: like The Karate Kid remake's relocation to Beijing (still with an American protagonist), the Asian-scented water approach of GI Joe: Retaliation, or James Bond's luminescent Shanghai skyscraper fight in Skyfall.

Iron Man 3's tweaks are enough to secure it a host of preferential perks in terms of media access – Robert Downey Jr's charm offensive ("I live a very Chinese life in America") at the Forbidden City at the beginning of the month wouldn't have been possible otherwise. But a full-blooded commitment to Chinese elements that would have secured it full co-production status (meaning, among other things, the highest box-office share possible) would have endangered Iron Man 3's universal global appeal too much.

Unfortunately, Hollywood's ersatz "fortune cookie" approach to its Chinese product probably won't work for much longer. Increasingly discriminating Chinese filmgoers are seeking entertainment that unabashedly speaks for them, and the local industry is increasingly able to provide it. Since the turn of the year, Hollywood has slipped behind not because of the Chinese government's anti-competitive practices, but because of a stream of hits from Chinese film-makers.

Low-budget comedy Lost in Thailand was a surprise hit in December, followed by Jackie Chan's Chinese Zodiac and more martial arts from Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmaster. Stephen Chow's comeback film Journey to the West was another predictable rainmaker, but there was also a pair of breakout performers in cable TV spin-off Bring Happiness Home and romcom Finding Mr Right. And more are on their way. A formidable showing, then, for homegrown Chinese films in 2013's first quarter. Lost in Thailand, Chinese Zodiac and Journey to the West all grossed $100m+ at home – and it's been a year since a Hollywood import (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) managed that. Despite the oriental mood music, Skyfall disappointed in China compared to Daniel Craig's first two outings – taking just under $60m.

Could this be the start of a divergence of tastes that will make US films try a lot harder to woo Chinese audiences? Buying preferential treatment and milking the PR works for single, high-impact projects such as Iron Man 3, but it's hardly the kind of comprehensive rethinking needed by the studios to be seriously in the running against local competitors operating with Hollywood savvy. There will come a point when the Chinese, quite understandably, want a Chinese Iron Man.

More martial arts ... Zhang Ziyi in Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmaster. Photograph: AP

Hollywood, therefore, seems likely to fall between two stools for the next few years. It's the first time a single foreign territory has become so important to it so quickly – Japan is a similar size, but it's not promising 30% growth over the coming years – yet the demands of the global market still need to considered. No one has worked out how to consistently find a crossover sweet spot, where global and Chinese audiences overlap. Looper seems to have been the closest so far, with its healthy grosses in the US, China, the UK and Australia. But it was still a bit of a gauche compromise, the Chinese dimension added midway through production by DMG: potential remained to aggressively play off the film's retro midwest Americana against the idea of a future, dominant China and really exploit the geopolitics to enhance the storyline.

It's not clear whether it's a question of story values, and the kind of struggles over narrative perspective that Iron Man 3 opted to duck out of, or of the much-publicised politics of making cinema in China, that is hindering the search for a crossover point. The two big private-equity-backed, east-west partnerships announced at the end of 2011 – between Huaxia and Relativity, and Huayi Brothers and Legendary – have so far produced zilch: the latter's first project, 15th-century epic The Great Wall, has suffered a serious of delays. There is no obvious solution in sight yet – so it may be time to crack open the fortune cookie after all.

• Iron Man 3 is out on 25 April.

• Next week's After Hollywood will look at a Mexican class comedy. Which global cinematic stories would you like to see covered in the column? Let us know in the comments below.