The latest incarnation of the hit film series Minions was released in Chinese theatres last week - but with a twist. Unlike Western audiences, cinema-goers in China were treated to a different ending of 'Minions 2: Once Upon a Time Gru'.
In the original film -- which chronicles the life of 'Despicable Me' super-villain Gru --one of the main characters, Will Karnage, escapes justice for attempted robbery by faking his own death.
However, in the version released in mainland China, Karnage is caught by the police and sentenced to 20 years behind bars. Once inside he even sets up his own theatre troupe.
As for Gru, he gets "back on the right track" and becomes a role model father -- disregarding the previous films in the franchise.
Of course, there are many cultural and political reasons why films may end differently in a country.
In China, all media must first pass through a censorship committee before it can be released, though it is not clear if Minions 2 was changed by censors or the film's producers.
Yet this is not the first time a foreign film has been modified in China. Just check out these alternative endings. Oh, here's a warning *Spoiler Alert* for those who've never seen any of the following movies.
In January this year, Twitter was alight over how the end ofDavid Fincher's cult classic 'Fight Club', starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, had been modified before being broadcast in China.
Instead of the protagonists blowing up the headquarters of several banks, erasing their customers' debts, police thwart their plan, a text at the end of the Chinese version indicated.
Law enforcement, on the side of justice, foiled the anarchist scheme of Tyler to destroy consumer capitalism.
Again it is unclear if the ending was altered out of self-censorship by the Chinese streaming service Tencent Video or by government order. But just over a week after the storm erupted Tencent restored the original ending.
There is no point watching this film without that scene, a person commented on the microblogging site Weibo.
In China's reimagining of Lord of War, which is nearly 30 minutes shorter than the original, the initial conclusion is replaced entirely.
Rather than getting off scot-free for pumping weapons into some of the most volatile contexts on Earth, lead character Yuri Orlovconfesses to all the crimes he faces officially in court, and is sentenced to life imprisonment.
Posting a screenshot of the alternative ending on Twitter, one user commented:"China has a stringent censorship system to ensure all TV programs, dramas and films released to the public reflect what the Communist Party deems correct aesthetics, morality, and ideology."
Lord of War, which stars Nicholas Cage, is loosely based on the colourful life of Viktor Bout, nicknamed the merchant of death.
A former Russian lieutenant, Bout was one of the world's biggest arms dealers, flying Soviet arms into battlefields from Liberia to Afghanistan. He was arrested in 2008 at a five-star hotel in Bangkok, following a years-long international investigation.
People sharing screenshots of Fight Club's alternative ending on Twitter inspired many other users to share similar images from different filmsunder the hashtag #ChinaEditChallenge.
Whistleblower and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden even got involved, sharing edits of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
Cutting out the final action scene in which the Rebel Alliance destroy the Death Star in a climactic dogfight, the film skips directly to an unexplained explosion.
The "terrorist attack" is successfully prevented, while the rebels are arrested and "sent to a lunatic asylum," according to the final text in the Chinese version.
"They were discharged from the hospital after reforming their ways," it adds.
The Matrix
The 1991 tale of humans caught in a simulated reality was also given a Chinese twist.
Inspired by the philosophy of Plato, the sci-fi film depicts a dystopian future in which the world is dominated by cold, calculating machines.
In the version released in China, main character Neo is gunned down by agents protecting the system and his fellow freedom fighter Morpheus "divulges all enemy information and [is] converted back peacefully into the Matrix."
Horray!
And it is not just politics.
LGBTQ plotlines from hit US sitcom "Friends" were also removed in China before it was streamed earlier this year.
Disney's latest animated film, "Lightyear," was not even released in China as the company refused to remove a scene showing two female characters kissing.
See more here:
'The rebels were sent to a lunatic asylum': These films end differently in China - Euronews
- NSA surveillance exposed by Snowden ruled unlawful - BBC - May 25th, 2024
- Can Edward Snowden Become the Next CEO of Twitter? Elon Musk is Ready to Give Up - Analytics Insight - May 15th, 2024
- Edward Snowden Weighs In On Boeing Whistleblower's Death With Cryptic Message: 'If I Die, It Wasn't Suicide' - TradingView - March 21st, 2024
- Edward Snowden Calls Bitcoin 'Most Significant Monetary Advance Since the Creation of Coinage' Featured Bitcoin ... - Bitcoin.com News - February 25th, 2024
- Edward Snowden: Bitcoin 'Most Significant Monetary Advance Since the Creation of Coinage' - Decrypt - February 25th, 2024
- Edward Snowden's Ominous Warning to the World - Newsweek - January 15th, 2024
- Edward Snowden Says Institutions 'Burning The Public's Faith' At Time When AI Can Replace Them: 'A Revolu - Benzinga - January 15th, 2024
- Edward Snowden: Bitcoin Safeguard for Pensions and Retirement - CoinGape - January 15th, 2024
- Edward Snowden and Jack Dorsey Are Both Asking the Same Question: What Happened in 1971? - Foundation for Economic Education - December 11th, 2023
- Edward Snowden - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - October 27th, 2023
- Edward Snowden On The NSA, His Book 'Permanent Record' And Life In ... - April 17th, 2023
- 209-359-17.. located in Merced.. Find Info before it disappears... - April 17th, 2023
- Edward Snowden gets Russian passport after swearing oath of allegiance ... - April 8th, 2023
- Edward Snowden - Education, Movie & Documentary - Biography - March 5th, 2023
- Before sending a voice message, ask if you could say it in writing: How to stop the avalanche of WhatsApp audios - EL PAS USA - February 25th, 2023
- Entertainment News Roundup: Sean Penn film 'Superpower' catches Zelenskiy at moment of Russian invasion; And the winner is... London rolls out red... - February 25th, 2023
- Edward Snowden Reacts To Elon Musk's 'Pardon' Poll: 'That's A Very Big ... - January 6th, 2023
- NSA files decoded: Edward Snowden's surveillance revelations explained ... - December 20th, 2022
- Edward Snowden says he feels itch to scale back in to $16.5K Bitcoin - December 20th, 2022
- Edward Snowden Offers to Take Over as Twitter CEO for Salary in ... - Investing.com - December 20th, 2022
- Where is Edward Snowden? | The Sun - November 25th, 2022
- Edward Snowden, Elon Musk Optimistic About Bitcoin Despite FTX Collapse - Crypto Briefing - November 17th, 2022
- Snowden's newfound Russian citizenship reignites the debate of privacy versus safety in the US - Tufts Daily - October 15th, 2022
- Whistleblower behind Luanda Leaks, Malta Files and Football Leaks on trial - The Shift News - October 15th, 2022
- 'All The Beauty And The Bloodshed' Trailer: Laura Poitras' Golden Lion Winner Hits US Theaters Later This Fall - The Playlist - October 15th, 2022
- NYFF 2022: No Bears, R.M.N., All the Beauty and the Bloodshed | Festivals & Awards - Roger Ebert - October 15th, 2022
- From Bin Laden to Al Zawahiri: The evolution of Americas Targeted Killing Strategy - Indian Defence Review - October 15th, 2022
- Arundhati Roy on Things that Can and Cannot Be Said: The Dismantling of the World as We Know It - LiveWire - October 7th, 2022
- Billion Dollar Harvest: TikTok's Threat to National and Personal Security MARIST CIRCLE - Marist College The Circle - October 7th, 2022
- 'All the Beauty and the Bloodshed' Review: Politics of the Personal - slantmagazine - September 21st, 2022
- Congressional inquiry reveals secret Customs and Border Protection database of U.S. phone records - CyberScoop - September 21st, 2022
- The Most Controversial Biopics - IndieWire - September 21st, 2022
- VIDEO: Priyanka Chopra celebrated her husband Nick Jonas' birthday like this at the golf course, wrote - News84Media.com - September 21st, 2022
- From Bin Laden to Al Zawahiri: The evolution of Americas targeted killing strategy - MyVoice - September 21st, 2022
- At German artist Thomas Demands MOCA exhibit, finding the material in the ephemeral - Toronto Star - September 21st, 2022
- This is the jungle: Law enforcement slowly waking up to the threat of DeFi exploits - Fortune - September 13th, 2022
- Icarus: The Aftermath Review: A Tense and Affecting Real-Life Sequel - Hollywood Reporter - September 13th, 2022
- Fourth Amendment: The right to be left alone - Minot Daily News - September 13th, 2022
- Opinion | It Is Time to Throw the Monarchies of the World Into the Dustbin of History - Common Dreams - September 13th, 2022
- Do the FBI monitor peoples social media activity and online posts? Is it legal? - AS USA - September 5th, 2022
- Is Trump the Rosenbergs? - JNS.org - JNS.org - September 5th, 2022
- The Patriot Act: Mass Surveillance Before and After 9/11 - Privacy News Online - September 5th, 2022
- Can code just be 'disappeared' from the internet? - POLITICO - August 28th, 2022
- The Tech Industry Is in Its Whistleblower Era - The Atlantic - August 28th, 2022
- History As It Happens: The Espionage Act's sordid origins - Washington Times - August 28th, 2022
- The inside story of the CIA vs Russia - Asia Times - August 28th, 2022
- Erik Prince wants to sell you a secure smartphone thats too good to be true - MIT Technology Review - August 20th, 2022
- Judge orders DoJ to produce redacted version of affidavit in state secrets investigation of Trump - WSWS - August 20th, 2022
- How to Use the Signal App: Tips & Tricks - Online Tech Tips - August 20th, 2022
- Ruling Class Turns On Conservative Americans - The American Conservative - August 20th, 2022
- Signal Reveals Over 1900 Users Were Affected in a Recent Phishing Attack - Appuals - August 20th, 2022
- Despite resistance, WikiLeaks continues its fight for the truth - Independent Australia - August 20th, 2022
- The Republican party has reason to fear the midterms - The Guardian - August 20th, 2022
- Government pays arms firm that spied on activists to snoop on all our internet records - The Canary - August 20th, 2022
- Why is Australia risking conflict with China? - Asia Times - August 20th, 2022
- Edward Snowden, Russia's 'Disinformation Campaign' Drive 'Downhill' Narrative, Says 'Black Swan' Author - Benzinga - August 12th, 2022
- What Does All This TV Talk on Big Ten Do for Big 12 and Oklahoma State? - Pokes Report - August 12th, 2022
- From Defending the Open Internet to Confronting the Reality of a Fragmented Cyberspace: Reflecting Upon Two CFR Reports on U.S. Goals in Cyberspace -... - August 12th, 2022
- US Vows To "aggressively Pursue" Cryptocurrency Mixers - Nation World News - August 12th, 2022
- After cryptos crash and NFTs collapse, Web3 idealists race to prove that the dream of decentralization isnt dead - Fortune - August 12th, 2022
- Prescribing a New Paradigm for Cyber Competition - War on the Rocks - August 12th, 2022
- What is Monero (XMR) Crypto? Is Edward Snowden Behind This Project too? - CryptoTicker.io - Bitcoin Price, Ethereum Price & Crypto News - August 4th, 2022
- Russian hackers get the headlines. But China is the bigger threat to many US enterprises. - Protocol - August 4th, 2022
- Why Is July 30th National Whistleblower Day? - Privacy News Online - August 4th, 2022
- I may have to wait until I'm on my deathbed Panama Papers whistleblower - Namibian - August 4th, 2022
- Whatever Happened to the Transhumanists? - Gizmodo Australia - August 4th, 2022
- Julian Assange? Heres why I am not a fan of his - The Citizen - August 4th, 2022
- Who Is Edward Snowden, the Man Who Spilled the NSA's Secrets? - July 26th, 2022
- Why so silent? Edward Snowden has gone underground since Russia's ... - July 26th, 2022
- Kids spend the summer in STEM camp - Marketplace - July 26th, 2022
- Thomas Demand: The Stutter of History - Announcements - E-Flux - July 26th, 2022
- Empire of Hacking: U.S. is the Biggest Threat to Cyber Security - Xinhua - July 26th, 2022
- Edward Snowden Says 'We Are All Going To Be Billionaires' But... - Benzinga - Benzinga - July 18th, 2022
- Joshua Schulte convicted on all counts in second trial over 2017 leak of Vault 7 cyberwarfare trove published by WikiLeaks - WSWS - July 18th, 2022
- SMITHEREENS: Reflections on Bits & Pieces:SMITHERMATAZ. Category: Public Comment from The Berkeley Daily Planet - Berkeley Daily Planet - July 18th, 2022
- Full Text of All Articles The Berkeley Daily Planet - Berkeley Daily Planet - July 18th, 2022
- As Bear Market Turns All Eyes to Utility, Privacy Stands Poised To Lead Next Crypto Breakout - The Daily Hodl - July 18th, 2022
- Yes, data centers use a lot of water. But a Utah company shows it doesn't have to be that way. - Salt Lake Tribune - July 18th, 2022
- Edward Snowden - National Whistleblower Center - July 9th, 2022
- Commentary: The fight against excessive surveillance continues in Maine and across the country - Press Herald - July 9th, 2022