Sony Pictures has reportedly turned down the Chinese government’s demand to take out the scenes that feature the Statue of Liberty from Spider Man: No Way Home. The dispute started in late 2021, when the executives of the production studio were working desperately to secure a Chinese release date for the blockbuster movie.
Spider Man: No Way Home Rejected By The Chinese Government
Despite the statue of Liberty’s major role in Spidery: No Way Home’s climatic scene, Chinese censors wanted it to be digitally removed, according to reports. Sony didn’t give in to the request, so the Chinese government asked if they could minimize the icon of American freedom by cutting key shots and darkening the lighting to obscure the statue, and the studio refused.
Spider-Man: No Way Home Banned By The Chinese Government
Much like other films, China has banned No Way Home, which became the biggest movie of 2021. Other films that were banned in the past are Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, The Dark Knight, Joker, Call Me By Your Name, and more. China certainly has some strict film censorship rules.
MCU’s Doctor Strange Won’t Premiere In China
Another new film that will not premiere in China is MCU’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It is reported that the Benedict Cumberbatch starrer contains an anti-Chinese element, so the authorities did not clear the film.
The film has reportedly made $1,892,570,726 globally, and it could have hit and even crossed the $2 billion mark if it had premiered in the Asian country. Also, despite Spider-Man: No Way Home’s ban by the Chinese government, the blockbuster was able to make over $600 million in profits.
China also recently censored another popular movie, Fight Club. The original ending of the cult classic film was radically edited to comply with the country’s restrictive censorship rules. To replace the multiple explosion showed in the original ending, the authorities win in the censored version. The movie ended with a written message on black screen: ‘The police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSQwJ8W8v8w
