Minions: The Rise Of Gru Has A Very Different Ending In China
The ongoing conflict between Chinese government censors and Hollywood producers has reportedly reached a new battleground: "Minions: The Rise of Gru." The film might seem an innocuous title to be censored by any official agency, but new reports have come out that viewers of "Minions" in China have been treated to a different ending from the one the film originally had. And it's reminding interested parties of a controversy surrounding an alternate version of the ending of "Fight Club," of all things, that was also altered to suit censorship standards in China (via CNN).
"Minions: The Rise of Gru" and "Fight Club" might not appear to have too much in common on the surface. But they can now both be accurately described as movies that have gotten new text-based endings for audiences in China in an attempt to bring their values in line with standards within the country.
You might assume that the alterations were possibly made to soften some of the things only adults notice in "Minions: The Rise of Gru," but in fact, the changed ending is a little more involved than that.
Wild Knuckles faces justice in an alternate version of the movie
The Guardian reports that viewers of "Minions: The Rise of Gru" in China have posted about a textual addendum to the film that replaces the ending that international audiences are familiar with: Gru and Wild Knuckles riding into the horizon together after Knuckles faked his own death to escape justice. This was not suitable to Chinese censors, who instead have reportedly affixed text assuring viewers that Wild Knuckles was ultimately captured by authorities and sentenced to 20 years in prison, while Gru "returned to his family," while "his biggest accomplishment is being the father to his three girls."
To be clear, this is not an "alternate ending" in the usual sense, created by the filmmakers for whatever reason, but a presentation that has been likened by some viewers to a PowerPoint slide show, altering the plot by way of a text epilogue.
Huaxia Film Distribution and China Film Co, the distributors of "Minions" in China, haven't commented publicly on the alterations.