In China, the world’s largest movie market, stringent government censorship often leads to movies being drastically altered in ways that do not reflect the intentions of filmmakers. Here are some of the most notable cases of movies that were re-edited for Chinese audiences.
Dead Poe
In his famous monologue urging his students to seize the day, Robin Williams briefly digresses to declare that Taiwan is and always will be part of China.
The Avengers
The Hulk is clumsily fitted with a T-shirt that says “Typical Dull-Witted American Who Lusts for Aggression.”
Wonder Woman 1984
Left exactly as-is as a symbol of American inferiority.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
To justify Leatherface’s actions, the audience is informed ahead of time that the teens he murders were not respectful to their parents and party leaders.
The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring
In order to make the film more marketable to Chinese audiences, producers opted to change the opening setting from the Shire to Shanghai.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Censors banned this film from China completely due to the fact they think Tom Holland is a flash in the pan with no real staying power.
The Devil Wears Prada
Accused by Meryl Streep’s character of wearing clothing unbecoming and immodest, Anne Hathaway’s character heartily agrees.
Titanic
Rose does not pose for Jack in the nude, but tastefully wrapped in the Chinese flag.
Joker
Deciding the film was too twisted ever to be approved for release, Chinese censors instead handed it over to the military to be studied for use as a psychological weapon.
Toy Story
The phrases “China owns Taiwan” and “Hong Kong is ours” are just randomly emblazoned on screen throughout the film, irrespective of plot.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
China’s state-run entertainment agency added multiple suggestions that the spell of Western capitalism is what’s causing all the patients’ psychic disturbances.
Rush Hour
Jackie Chan replaced with a Chinese actor to make the film more relatable to audiences.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
The Chinese version comes in at only 15 minutes due to censors removing depictions of security personnel as buffoons.
Se7en
Corrected a typo misspelling the name of the third AD in the credits.
The Social Network
In the Chinese version, Mark Zuckerberg is immediately murdered by the Winklevoss twins, who then leave Harvard to invest their father’s vast fortune in WeChat.
Cheaper By The Dozen
Thousands of hours were poured into removing 11 of the 12 child actors in this movie in order to comply with China’s one-child policy.
Rocky
All fight sequences were re-shot wuxia style.
Paddington 2
Flagrantly disregarding the artists’ intent, Chinese producers translated almost every line of the movie into Cantonese.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The last half hour of this film was completely cut in order to preserve an enjoyable camp narrative without the confusing ending where they’re all in a spaceship or something.
A Quiet Place
The characters in this horror-thriller must remain silent for fear of destabilizing their people with scandalous opinions. There is no actual monster.
