David Fincher Reacts to China’s ‘Fight Club’ Censorship and Why ‘It Makes No Sense to Me’

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Battle at Lake Changjin II” continued its domination of the mainland Chinese box office into a third week. But cinemagoing activity continued to slow down after peaking at the beginning of the month with the Lunar New Year holidays.Hollywood new release “Death on the Nile” did not have enough impact to make it beyond fourth place or to change the overall direction of the market. “Lake Changjin II” earned $19.8 million over the weekend, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterSony’s long-in-the-works video game adaptation “Uncharted” collected $44.1 million between Friday and Sunday, enough to lead domestic box office charts and solidify Tom Holland’s star power.The big-budget action adventure has been positioned as a key test of Holland’s bankability outside of his blockbuster success as Spider-Man. “Uncharted” has received mixed reviews, at best, so it’s safe to assume the 25-year-old British actor had a healthy hand in selling tickets. It also helps that “Uncharted” is rated PG-13 and based on one of the most popular video games.Directed by “Ruben Fleischer, who previously led Tom Hardy’s comic book tentpole “Venom” to box office glory, “Uncharted” is expected to earn $52 million from 4,275 North American theaters through the President’s Day holiday on Monday.

Bill Maher zeroed in on China during the latest edition of “Real Time”, targeting the winter Olympics in Beijing during the “New Rules” segment.

Bill Maher couldn’t hide his contempt for the country hosting the Winter Olympics on his Friday Real Time. 

EXCLUSIVE: Pro basketball player Jarnell Stokes is partnering with veteran animation exec and producer Jay Fukuto (The Simpsons, King of the Hill) to co-write and produce Wings to Fly, an animated feature based on his sports-themed children’s book of the same name.

Fight Club.Back in January, the 1999 film hit headlines after it emerged that its final scenes had been altered on streaming platform Tencent Video, replacing The Narrator (Edward Norton) killing off 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.”Now, in a new interview with Empire, Fincher has spoken out about the edit.“It’s funny to me that the people who wrote the Band-Aid [ending] in China must have read the book, because it adheres pretty closely,” he said, referring to the fact that in Chuck Palahniuk’s novel on which the film is based, ‘Jack’ is in an institution at the end.When asked about the ending, he replied: “Here’s what we know.

original ending of “Fight Club” has been restored on Chinese streamer Tencent Video, director David Fincher is still baffled as to why it was ever changed in the first place.“A company licensed the film from New Regency to show it in China, with a boilerplate [contract]: ‘You have to understand cuts may be made for censorship purposes,'” the director explained in a recent interview with Empire. “No one said, ‘If we don’t like the ending, can we change it?’ So there’s now a discussion being had as to what ‘trims’ means.”Fincher added that it wasn’t so much the trims themselves that bothered him, but why they were made.

A couple of weeks ago, it was revealed that “Fight Club” was added to a Chinese streaming platform recently, but with a brand-new ending. Instead of the ending where buildings are blown up and Project Mayhem wins the day, a new, more government-friendly ending was added, where the film shows a title card explaining how the bad guys lost.

The return of popular American sitcom Friends to streaming services in China has provoked a significant online backlash after viewers noted numerous changes that had been made to the show, including the removal of LGBTQ references.

Nathan Chen has won Olympic gold!

Congratulations are in order for Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim!

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!

Kamila Valieva is cementing her place as one of the greatest figure skaters of all time and she is only 15-years-old.

“Turning Red” (which premieres exclusively on Disney+ March 11) is the story of Mei (Rosalie Chiang), a precocious 13-year-old Chinese girl growing up in Toronto, Canada. If being a tween wasn’t awkward enough, she finds herself transforming, when in a state of extreme emotional distress, into a giant red panda.

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.