The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun an investigation into whether some of Hollywood’s biggest movie studios have made illegal payments to officials in China to gain the right to film and show movies there, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation.


The inquiry creates a potential roadblock for the industry’s plans to expand in one of the world’s largest markets.


The S.E.C. investigation has so far focused on at least three studios, the person said, but all of the largest and some smaller studios have been contacted or made aware of the inquiry, according to the person, who has direct knowledge of the investigation but who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter could end up in court.


In the last year, both the S.E.C. and the Justice Department have increased investigations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, known as F.C.P.A., which forbids American companies from making illegal payments to government officials or others to ease the way for operations in foreign countries.


Government investigators have been particularly interested recently in the practices of United States companies in China, one of the largest potential markets and one that Hollywood executives have been particularly keen to enter.


An S.E.C. spokesman declined to comment on Tuesday.


The investigation was first reported on Tuesday by Reuters, which said that five companies had been contacted by the S.E.C., including 20th Century Fox, which is owned by News Corporation, the Walt Disney Company and DreamWorks Animation.


Officials at those companies declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the Marvel Entertainment unit of Disney, which recently said it would film part of “Iron Man 3” in China.


Spokesmen for the other major Hollywood studios, none of which are known to be under investigation, either declined to comment or did not respond to a request for comment.


Hollywood has been trying to get more films into the Chinese market for decades, but efforts have picked up in recent years in large part because China has identified cinema as a growth priority. China is racing to build more modern theaters to entertain an expanding, cinema-loving middle class. The country is also escalating local film production, partly as a way to spread its culture across the globe.


In February, Xi Jinping, China’s vice president and likely future leader, visited politicians in Washington and movie executives in Hollywood. Soon after, China raised the number of foreign-produced films that can be shown there each year and increased the portion of box-office revenue from China that the movie studios get to keep.


Under the agreement, China agreed to allow 34 foreign-produced films to be shown annually, up from a quota of 20, as long as the additional films use either Imax or 3-D technologies. China also agreed to let studios keep about 25 percent of the box-office revenue; currently, Hollywood gets about 15 percent.


The discussions leading to the deal were conducted at a high level, as Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. joined Mr. Xi in personal negotiations. Given the level of diplomacy involved in reaching the agreement, the S.E.C. inquiry could be an embarrassment to the Obama administration.


Jeffrey Katzenberg, the DreamWorks Animation chief executive, and Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, also helped forge the agreement.


China currently has about 6,000 movie screens, up from roughly 1,500 three years ago, according to studio distribution executives. The Chinese government has said it expects 20,000 screens to be operating by 2015 and 40,000 by 2040, bringing it on par with movie exhibition in North America.


Ticket revenue in China is expected to reach $5 billion by 2015, up from $2.1 billion last year, according to box office tracking companies.


Hollywood is facing a slowing movie market at home. Last year, attendance in North America dropped to its lowest level since 1993. Studios, contending with a dying DVD business, are more reliant than ever on showings in theaters and see China as a major antidote to their various economic problems.