‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ Gets a Very Different Ending From Chinese Censors

Chinese actor Li Yifeng, whose feature credits include The Pioneer, Hi, Mom and My People My Homeland, has been detained by police in Beijing for allegedly soliciting prostitutes on multiple occasions.

Michelle Yeoh is a mythological goddess in the new Disney+ series American Born Chinese. Based on the genre-hopping graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang, Disney unveiled a featurette of the new series during the D23 Expo.

Refresh for latest…: There was a little more excitement at the international box office this weekend, with two local movies leading the charge and a handful of new milestones for Hollywood pics.

India’s Kajol To Star Disney+ Hotstar Remake Of ‘The Good Wife’

Kajol, one of India’s best-loved actors, stars in Disney+ Hotstar series “The Good Wife – Pyaar, Kanoon, Dhoka,” an adaptation of the CBS series of the same name. Disney unveiled a first look image for the show that is now in production. With the Indian title translating as ‘The Good Wife – Love, Law, Deception,’ Kajol plays a housewife who is forced to return to work as a lawyer after her husband’s public scandal puts him behind bars. The series is directed by Suparn Verma (Amazon Studios series “The Family Man”) and produced by Mumbai-based Banijay Asia. Kajol has credits that include romance “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai,” melodrama “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…,” romantic thriller “Fanaa,” drama “My Name Is Khan,” and hit the action comedy “Dilwale,” in 2015. She hails from the Mukherjee family which is studded with actors, directors and producers, and has been married to Ajay Devgn for more than twenty years.

Ed Meza @edmezavar “Musk vs Bezos: The New Star Wars,” about the space race between the two richest men in the world, is attracting plenty of attention from broadcasters in Europe, where new TV documentary has secured multiple sales. Commissioned by France 5 from French documentary production shingle Magneto, “Musk vs Bezos” examines the intense competition between Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin as they vie for the top spot in the U.S.’s burgeoning space travel business and the potential consequences for the world if the two billionaires develop the capacity to monopolize all future terrestrial communications. “When Musk first tried to buy a Russian rocket back in 2001, the chief engineer of the Russian Space Agency thought it was a joke,” Java Films notes. “By 2008 SpaceX had a contract with NASA to supply flights to the International Space Station.”

Naman Ramachandran Vice has signed a worldwide license deal for director and producer Jason Loftus’ “Eternal Spring: The Heist of China’s Airwaves,” Canada’s entry in the Oscars’ international feature film category. Sales agent Sideways Film, which represents the production on behalf of Lofty Sky Entertainment, has also scored domestic deals on the film with Arte for France and Germany, RTS for Switzerland, VG for Norway, Current Time for Russian language European territories and Al Jazeera Doc for the Middle East and North Africa. Through the lens of celebrated comic book artist Daxiong (“Justice League”), the documentary explores a plot by Falun Gong adherents in China to hack state television and expose repression.

This was yet another soft weekend at the international box office with no major fresh titles and as summer fully closes out in Europe and beyond.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief After more than a decade of losses, Chinese video streamer iQiyi Tuesday unveiled another improved quarter. But its problems are scarcely in the rear-mirror and it simultaneously announced that it will raise a further $500 million of capital. Revenues in the April to June 2022 period, the second quarter of iQiyi’s financial year, dropped by 13% to RMB 6.66 billion. Net losses for the quarter weighed in at RMB214 million. That was a massive reduction compared with the RMB1.40 deficit recorded in the equivalent quarter in 2021. But it also represented a return to loss after recording a maiden first quarter profit – RMB169 million – in the January to March period.

In the fall, Yung Lean will embark on his first major international tour behind his two most recent albums, May 2020’s Starz and this past April’s Stardust. He’ll be capitalizing on a recent renaissance in appreciation for the Stockholm rapper, due in part to both the meteoric rise of his Drain Gang colleagues and the renewed vitality of his 2013 breakout single, “Ginseng Strip 2002,” released when he was only 16.

Minions: The Rise Of Gru, drastically changing the fate of the titular antihero.The animated prequel follows Gru in his teenage days, before setting up his evolution into the supervillain fans of the franchise have come to know.However, the Chinese version of the film features a very different ending for Gru and his mentor Wild Knuckles.Instead of riding off into the sunset together, Wild Knuckles ends up in jail while Gru “becomes one of the good guys”.According to posts and screenshots shared on Chinese microblogging site Weibo, subtitled stills had been added to the credits to alter the film’s original ending.In these subtitles, it’s revealed that Wild Knuckles was arrested by the police and locked up for 20 years after a failed heist. He also develops a “love of acting” and sets up a touring theatrical group.Gru, meanwhile, “returned to his family” after fathering his three daughters became “his biggest accomplishment”.DuSir, a film blogger with more than 14 million followers on Weibo, called the changes  “outrageous” and questioned why only Chinese people required “special guidance and care”.In an article, he wrote: “How weak and lacking judgment do they think our audiences are?”These alterations are the latest example of Chinese authorities editing a Hollywood film’s ending.Earlier this year, Warner Bros.

“Minions: The Rise of Gru,” were in for a surprise after the ending was altered to have Gru, the main villain of the Illumination franchise, turned from an evil man to a good dude.The Chinese version of the animated film has an array of post-credit scenes in which a variety of subtitles say Gru “eventually became one of the good guys” who was “dedicated to raising his family.”In the United States, viewers find out how Gru tricked the police and learned to defeat his enemies to become the ultimate villain.Since “Minions” takes place before the “Despicable Me” series, Gru is not supposed to be the hero.Other post-credit scenes also feature the cops arresting Gru’s mentor, Wild Knuckles.In the Chinese adaptation, though, the police are not deceived and instead apprehend Knuckles, who is later jailed for two decades for his crimes.

With no new wide Hollywood tentpole releases until October, we’re in a period of holdovers, and local titles excelling in their home markets (and beyond), while Top Gun: Maverick continues to soar and there’s a will it or won’t it question mark over Jurassic World Dominion‘s shot at getting to $1B global.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefChinese animation film “New Gods: Yang Jian” was the top film at the mainland China box office over the latest weekend. “Minions: The Rise of Gru” opened in third place.“New Gods: Yang Jian” earned 19.8 million (RMB134 million) on its debut between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. It places ahead of previous winner “Moon Man” which slipped from first to second place with a $17.8 million (RMB121 million) fourth weekend.