Authorities win in altered ending of ‘Fight Club’ shown in China

Fans know him as Cain Dingle but Jeff Hordley couldn't be more different from his Emmerdale character.

A legendary career. Shaun White reflected on his snowboarding achievements after his final Olympic Games ended without a medal.

Nathan Chen has won Olympic gold!

Kevin Hart got Nick Cannon in some hot water with his latest prank. Earlier this week, Hart gifted Cannon a vending machine full of condoms as part of his latest prank in the pair's «prank wars» challenge, but the prank didn't go over too well for the talk show host at home.Cannon was joined by his  co-stars earlier this week, and he spoke about how the stunt caused him some «baby mama drama.»«I still think me wrapping his face on my private plane is better than his sending me a vending machine full of condoms,» Cannon told ET's Kevin Frazier of Hart's NSFW prank.«Vending machine full of condoms is a much bigger hassle to get out of a dressing room and takes up all the space,» Hart chimed in. «And one thing that was brilliant about it, it was the mystery of it, because I had up some baby mama drama, 'Who sent you that? Who sent you that?'» Cannon said. «So, I did have to do some real life stuff, and then when he came out and said it was him, everybody relaxed.»Hart's prank came just days after Cannon announced that he's expecting his eighth child with model, Brie Tiesi.«It's about complicating a person's day, how do I make your day difficult? That's a beautiful prank,» Hart added of the hilarious moment.A post shared by Kevin Hart (@kevinhart4real)The friends and co-stars have a couple more shenanigans in store on their BET+ original series, .

Naman Ramachandran Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen has wrapped shooting of his first Mainland Chinese feature “The Breaking Ice.”Hailed as one of Asia’s brightest young directors, Chen competed in the shorts competition at Cannes in 2007 with “Grandma” and won the Camera d’Or with his debut feature “Ilo Ilo” in 2013. His sophomore feature “Wet Season” premiered in competition at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Nathan Chen has earned his place in the Olympics record book!

Nathan Chen has earned his place in the Olympics record book!

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterAt some point in the past decade, Hollywood stopped looking at the burgeoning Chinese box office as found money and instead embraced the theatrical market’s windfall for what it has become: a necessity.Today, whether or not blockbuster plays in China could mean the difference between hundreds of millions of dollars in ticket sales. That reality is downright painful at a time when China has continued to deny releases for Hollywood’s biggest 2021 movies, such as Disney’s “Black Widow,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and “Eternals,” as well as Sony’s “Venom: Let There Be Carnage.” And the few films that were given access to Chinese movie theaters, including MGM’s James Bond sequel “No Time to Die” and Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” remake, earned far less than their studios had expected.

EXCLUSIVE: After teaming in the Disney/Marvel film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Michelle Yeoh is set to top an international cast for the Destin Daniel Cretton-directed Disney+ fantastical series American Born Chinese. She will star alongside Ben Wang (MacGyver), Yeo Yann Yann (Wet Season), Chin Han (Mortal Kombat), Daniel Wu (Reminiscence), Ke Huy Quan (Finding Ohana), former Taekwondo champion Jim Liu and Sydney Taylor (Just Add Magic).

Fight Club‘s original ending has been restored on Chinese streaming service Tencent Video following cuts to its conclusion.Last month, the 1999 film hit headlines after it emerged that its final scenes had been altered on the platform, replacing The Narrator (Edward Norton) killing of imaginary alter ego Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and watching buildings collapse.Instead, a blank slate reads: “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 a lunatic asylum receiving psychological treatment.”Following a backlash, however, Tencent has now reportedly restored 11 of the 12 minutes cut in its version, only keeping a sex scene between Durden and Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) out.China has strict rules on censorship, which may have explained the original cut ending, though it is unclear if the backlash has led to the restoration.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefChina’s giant Tencent Video has begun playing David Fincher’s classic “Fight Club” with its original dystopian ending now intact. The move to restore the final scenes comes barely two weeks after it emerged that the ending of the film as it played on Chinese streaming had been changed so that law and order prevail.There has been no explanation of the reversal, nor who was responsible for the previous amendment to the 1999 film. Online pressure from fans and a chorus of international media commentary highlighting the Chinese government’s penchant for micro-management, may have secured a rare policy reversal.In Fincher’s original film Edward Norton’s narrator character kills off his alter ego Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) before watching buildings burst into flame in apparent confirmation that his plan to destroy modern civilization is being executed.

David Fincher’s “Fight Club” has been restored in China to include the original ending after censorship of the final fight scene by Tencent Video sparked backlash.Before the Chinese streaming service began running the 1999 Brad Pitt classic last month, Ed Norton’s narrator killed off his imaginary alter ego (Pitt) and it was implied that his mission of creating anarchy was playing out.But, to follow strict censorship rules, the ending was completely changed. Replacing the climactic scene was a black screen with the message: “The police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding.

Chinese authorities interrupted a Dutch journalist’s live report on the Winter Olympics Friday, dragging him off-camera and creating confusion as to why his broadcast was halted.

Naman Ramachandran Producer and financier Anton (“Greenland,” “The Night House”) has hired Leslie Chen as senior VP, international distribution and sales and has elevated consultant Louis Balsan to executive VP, international distribution and acquisitions. They will be part of Anton’s German office and will report into Paris-based Cécile Gaget, president of international production and distribution.

Qimai. Grindr has also been banned from Android app stores run by Chinese phone makers like Tencent and Huawei, reports Bloomberg.Representatives from Grindr confirmed to Bloomberg and The New York Post that the company removed its app from the Apple store in China of its own accord, citing difficulties with complying with the country’s Personal Information Protection Law.New regulations went into effect at the end of 2021 that limit personal information stored in apps and require data transferred between China and other regions to be approved by the Chinese government, prompting some companies to remove their apps from Apple and Android stores in China. Several foreign Internet services, including Yahoo, Microsoft Corp.’s LinkedIn, and Epic Games Inc.’s Fortnite, pulled out of the Chinese market last year because of difficulty complying with burdensome regulations aimed at restricting or censoring certain types of content.Grindr’s removal from online app stores comes just days after the Chinese government announced a month-long campaign aimed at policing online content to “create a civilized, healthy, festive and peaceful atmosphere for online public opinion” as the nation prepares to host the Winter Olympics.Among the government’s goals during that time period are to crack down on online violence, pornography, the spread of rumors about the Olympics or the government, and take steps to curb “the spread of bad Internet culture,” which means rooting out online behavior that the government dislikes or finds distasteful. While the announcement didn’t specifically mention dating apps or homosexuality, LGBTQ people in China have found themselves targeted by the government in the past.

On good terms. Mariah Carey is “supportive” of her ex-husband Nick Cannon following news that he is expecting his eighth child.

Naman Ramachandran France’s Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinemas kicks off Feb. 1 with a gala screening of Iranian auteur Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s 2001 Cannes winner “Kandahar” and will conclude on Feb.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefChina Media Group has launched CCTV-8K, an 8K ultra-high-definition TV channel, to broadcast the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, state-owned news agency Xinhua reports.To deliver the channel, CMG had to accelerate development of its nascent 8K production, broadcasting and transmission operations, said the Asian Broadcasting Union.CMG has started to install giant 8K screens in public places across the country, starting with four railway stations in Beijing and Olympic venue Zhangjiakou.Other media novelties this year include Kuaishou, a short video and live-streaming platform, being set as an official broadcast partner. Kuaishou claims more than a billion downloads of its app and to be catching fierce rival Bytedance (which owns both TikTok and its Chinese equivalent Douyin.) Along with streaming platform Tencent Video, Kuaishou sub-licensed the China rights to last year’s Tokyo summer games and the 2022 Beijing Olympics from China Central Television.The games are set to go ahead in an ultra-strict anti-COVID bubble.