The ending of ‘Minions 2’ has been specially changed so that the new film in the franchise can be released in China. This Chinese version makes morality triumph.
‘Minions 2: Once Upon a Time Gru’ was released on August 19 in Chinese theaters. This is the fifth installment in the ‘Despicable Me’ series. This prequel chronicles the youth of Gru, the super-villain of the franchise.
But unlike the other international versions, the one for mainland China offers an alternative conclusion. The animated film sequences are unaltered, but a series of stills and commentary have been inserted at the end.
In the original film, Gru’s mentor, Will Karnage, an attempted robber, escapes justice after faking his death. In the version broadcast in mainland China, the character is caught by the police and sentenced to 20 years in prison, where, calmed down, he pursues “his passion for acting” by “creating a theater troupe”, underlines the text. the end.
Not a first
As for Gru, he’s become a role model father and ‘back on the straight and narrow’, the alternate ending claims, ignoring the reality of previous films in the franchise.
Television and film works, both Chinese and foreign, must go through a censorship committee before they can be broadcast in China. It is thus not the first time that a foreign film has been modified to conform to what the authorities present as more ‘healthy’ values, in particular for productions aimed at young audiences.
Earlier this year, the end of David Fincher’s cult feature ‘Fight Club’ (1999), starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, was also changed for its broadcast on the Chinese platform Tencent Video. Again, the police had thwarted the macabre plans of the protagonist, indicated a text at the end of the film.
The return to China, on a streaming platform, of the American television series ‘Friends’ in February had also caused incomprehension from spectators, who had noticed that dialogues evoking the homosexuality of a character had been removed.
/ATS