Fight Club has hit streaming services in China – but with a completely different ending.
The film, directed by David Fincher, follows Edward Norton’s unnamed narrator, and Brad Pitt’s anti-consumerist Tyler Durden. By the end of the movie (spoiler alert), the Narrator realizes he and Durden are actually the same person. Norton’s Narrator kills his alter-ego by shooting himself in the cheek, and he and Helena Bonham Carter’s Marla Singer then watch as explosions take out the buildings around them as part of Durden’s Project Mayhem plans to wipe out debt.
But, in the Chinese release of the movie on streaming service Tencent Video, things don’t play out that way at all, and it’s the police who come out on top.
Vice (opens in new tab) reports that, in the new ending, no buildings explode, and the scene is replaced by text that reads: “Through the clue provided by Tyler, 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 receiving psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012.”
Vice note that it’s unknown whether the change was made due to a government order or if it’s down to self-censorship, but a source says the copyright owner edited the film, which was then given government approval, then sold to streaming sites.
Fincher’s next film is The Killer, which will star Michael Fassbender and Tilda Swinton and release on Netflix. While you wait, check out our roundup of the best Netflix movies streaming now to plan your next movie marathon.