China censors Brad Pitt film Fight Club with alternative, less violent ending, outraging fans
- The ending has been altered on a streaming site to remove a series of explosions; instead, inserted text states everyone involved was either sent to a prison or a mental asylum
- China routinely censors foreign films either in full or partially, including big-budget films
Even major Hollywood stars like Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are no match for China’s censors, as film fans recently discovered the movie Fight Club has an alternative, less intense ending in versions released in China.
In the 1999 David Fincher classic, the film ends with the protagonist shooting himself through the cheek, killing his dangerously controlling terrorist alter-ego Tyler. Then his girlfriend arrives at the scene and together they watch as a series of explosions take place, with buildings in the distance crumbling to the ground.
On Tencent Video, a Chinese video streaming site owned by Tencent, however, the movie ends with the protagonist shooting himself in the mouth. Then some English text appears saying: “Through clues provided by Tyler, the police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing Tyler’s plan for mass destruction.”
It went on to say that Tyler was sent to a mental asylum receiving psychological treatment and was discharged from the hospital in 2012.
Tencent’s version is 12 minutes shorter than the original, with five minutes cut from the crucial ending scene.
The “new ending” has triggered heated discussion on film and culture forum Douban, where one commentator said angrily that the public is used to seeing censored films, but to invent a completely different ending “was too much”.