China Censors ‘Fight Club’ With New Ending, but Some Execs View It as Bizarre ‘Win-Win’

variety.com:

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefDavid Fincher’s classic “Fight Club” has been given a different ending in China, where it’s now available on Tencent Video.

The story of exactly how the new version came about is unsurprisingly murky, but it does provide something of a win-win situation for all parties.In the 1999 original, Edward Norton’s narrator character kills off his alter ego Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) before watching buildings burst into flames in apparent confirmation that his plan to destroy modern civilization is being executed.The version now playing on China’s largest video streamer, which is home to the country’s biggest selection of imported films, stops before the buildings explode.

The final action is instead replaced with an English-language title card explaining that the anarchic plot was foiled by the authorities. “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 [sic] receiving psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012,” the card reads.China’s censors — ever vigilant for depictions that might disturb social order or impart criminal methods — normally cut or provide notes where edits need to be made before a film can be submitted successfully for certification.Sometimes these cuts have significantly deformed the version shown to Chinese audiences in cinemas or on TV.