Hurray! At the end of the movie, everything has worked out well for the supervillain Wild Knuckles and his apprentice Gru. They have beaten their enemies and Knuckles has escaped the police by faking his own death. Off they go in search of new adventures!

Or do they? The answer is yes, if you live in most parts of the world. But in China, the film has a very different ending. Knuckles is recaptured by the police and sent to prison. Gru goes home, where "his biggest accomplishment is being the father to his three girls".

This is not the only Hollywood film to be altered by China's censors. The original ending of Fight ClubA film starring Brad Pitt as a salesman who takes part in fistfights in his spare time. has the main character blow up several skyscrapers. The Chinese version finishes by saying the police "arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding".

Often scripts are changed by the filmmakers themselves. China, with the world's largest population¹, is a huge market, so producers try to avoid anything that might annoy the authorities.

In Skyfall, all the scenes showing James Bond fighting Chinese villains were removed from the Chinese version. In Doctor Strange, TibetChina conquered the country in 1950. It has been accused of trying to erase its culture, which is highly respected in the West. was replaced with Nepal as the scene of the main character's spiritual journey.

Sometimes it is a question of flattering China. The remake of The Karate KidThe film is about a boy who is a target for bullies until karate changes his life. was set in China rather than the US, and focused on kung fu - a Chinese martial art - instead of karate, which is Japanese. Mulan is based on a Mongolian legend, but Disney made its heroine Han ChineseThe ethnicity of 92% of the Chinese population..

Hollywood films have been altered for other countries too, but for very different reasons. Extra scenes were added to the biopicShort for "biographical picture", meaning a film about someone's life. Lincoln² to explain the historical background for audiences who did not know about Abraham Lincoln's fight against slavery.

Yes: The Chinese government wants to project a particular view of the world which will keep the Communist Party in power. All self-respecting filmmakers should defend freedom of expression.  

No: The future of cinema is in the balance, with so many people preferring to stream films at home. China can play a key role in its survival, and changing scenes is a small price to pay.  

Or... Every filmmaker or writer needs to bear their audience in mind and avoid alienating them. Look at Charles Dickens, who changed the ending of Great Expectations to make it more upbeat.