David Fincher’s Fight Club is probably a film that needs no introduction to this audience; however, it has just been released digitally in China through the streaming service Tencent Video with a completely different ending.
To appease the Chinese government’s film content laws, the film’s original ending has been removed from the film. The ending we’re all familiar with involved Edward Norton as the Narrator breaking away from his split personality Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), by “killing” him. Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) is then joined with the Narrator to hold hands and watch as Project Mayhem’s plans come to fruition, standing at the window watching the buildings of the city collapse to the ground.
The version that was released in China removes this ending in its entirety. Instead, text appears on the screen that reads the following:
“Through the clue provided by Tyler, the police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding. After the trial, Tyler was sent to lunatic asylum receiving psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012.”
This version of Fight Club is the only Fincher film to be available in China outside of the film’s original screening at the Shanghai International Film Festival. Whether this edited version was created by the government or by Tencent Video attempting to avoid a ban is still unknown. The service has had other edited international films because Chinese censors ban portrayals of violence, nudity, or general intense materials.
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