“Fight Club" has a new and different ending in China, continuing a longstanding pattern of the U.S. film industry appeasing Chinese authorities to maintain access to China's market.
The original "Fight Club" ends with the narrator, played by Edward Norton, killing his split personality Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt.
In the final scene, the narrator watches his plan to destroy consumerism by erasing bank and debt records come to life as his followers set off explosives to destroy several skyscrapers.
Meanwhile, the version released in China has a completely different ending, which was recently discovered by fans who viewed the film on the Chinese streaming site Tencent Video, Just the News reports.
In the alternate ending, the entire scene featuring exploding buildings is cut out and replaced to have the authorities win. Specifically, the film closes with a blank screen showing a few sentences of text.
"Through the clue provided by Tyler, the police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding," the message says. "After the trial, Tyler was sent to a lunatic asylum receiving psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012."
Perhaps the American ending was too much for the Chinese government to handle – or they didn’t want anyone getting any ideas!
It remains unclear whether the ending was changed by direct government order or self-censorship. China has super strict censorship rules to ensure all films and other consumable material reflect what the government deems appropriate and correct.
The Chinese distributor of "Fight Club" is Pacific Audio & Video Co., according to the version available on Tencent Video. Pacific Audio & Video Co. is an affiliate of the state-owned Guangdong TV.
