China censors cut 40 minutes off science fiction epic Cloud Atlas
State media censors will edit out a hefty 35-minutes of film from German science fiction drama Cloud Atlas before its release next week, Shanghai-based Dongfang Daily reported on Wednesday.
The original film, based on the novel of the same name, spanned 172-minutes long for European and American markets but was cut to just 137 for its mainland version, according to the film’s directors.
“Although the mainland version is a bit constrained, [we] fully believe in the regulator’s editing standards,” said Cloud Atlas co-director Tom Tykwer, who was in Beijing on Tuesday to promote the movie ahead of its January 31 release.
Tykwer co-directed the film with Andy and Lana Wachowski.
The 2012 film, which weaves together story lines spanning several centuries, from 1849 all the way to a future, features an ensemble cast starring Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and Hugo Weaving.
Mainland actress Zhou Xun has a small role in the film and appears in a sex scene which is expected to be cut.
Cloud Atlas opened to mostly negative reviews and barely managed to put a dent in the US box office. According to the Dongfang Daily, the US$100 million production must earn at least 1 billion yuan (US$160 million) to recoup huge losses incurred globally.
After years of pressure, China last year agreed to increase the annual number of imported films from 20 to 34, in a year when 893 films were produced domestically.
Additional reporting from the Associated Press