A Chinese streaming platform is sharing a version of Fight Club in which the ending has been changed from the original.
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Viewers using Tencent Video in China will see a different ending to David Fincher’s 1999 film, where the scene of exploding buildings is replaced with a black slate and a caption: “The police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding.”
China has restrictive censorship rules, which could explain why the film’s original ending has been altered. NME has contacted Tencent Video for a response.
Fight Club follows the story of a depressed insomniac man (Ed Norton) who meets a soap salesman called Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). The protagonist comes to live in Tyler’s squalid house after his apartment is destroyed.
Together they form an underground club with strict rules and fight other men who are disillusioned with their lives. At the end of the film, The Narrator kills off his imaginary alter ego (Tyler) and watches on as bombs detonate and bring multiple buildings down.
In the version streamed in China the ending caption adds that The Narrator is sent to a “lunatic system” for treatment.
Fans criticised the move, with one writing on social media: “The first rule of Fight Club in China? Don’t mention the original ending. The second rule of Fight Club in China? Change it so the police win.”
The first rule of Fight Club in China? Don't mention the original ending. The second rule of Fight Club in China? Change it so the police win — @AFP https://t.co/n1TiB9DCV6
— Jerome Taylor (@JeromeTaylor) January 25, 2022
In related news, Norton has paid tribute to his Fight Club co-star Meat Loaf, who passed away aged 74 last week.
Sharing a still from 1999’s Fight Club where his character of the unnamed narrator is embraced by Robert Paulson (played by Meat Loaf), Norton wrote: “I don’t keep pictures from films around home. But I have this one in my office in a frame because it makes me smile every time.
“It’s engraved ‘Love and Hugs, Meat’. It sums him up well. He was so funny. And gentle. And warm to everyone. A sweet soul. RIP Meat Loaf.”
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