Next month sees the release of Disney’s latest live-action remake in Mulan. But the $200 million movie has seen a kiss scene removed after China’s local executives demand its censorship. The intimate moment was between Mulan and her love interest Chen Honghui.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney showed Mulan at a Chinese test screening.
Aside from the audience, members of China’s local executives viewed the film too.
And in the early cut, the kiss scene on a bridge did not go down well with the authorities.
Director Niki Caro said: “It was very beautiful, but the China office went, ‘No, you can’t, that doesn’t feel right to the Chinese people.”
READ MORE: Mulan trailer: Where is Mushu? Is Eddie Murphy character in remake?
Meanwhile, fears over coronavirus, which originated in China, could affect the box office of big Hollywood releases in the coming months.
The Asian country has closed 70,000 cinema screen to contain it.
According to The Sunday Times, the Chinese press tour for new James Bond movie No Time To Die has been cancelled.
The closure of the movie theatres in China could mean No Time To Die takes a big financial hit, as it may for Mulan too.
After all, China is now the world’s second-biggest region for the box office after the US.
Last year, Avengers Endgame became the highest-grossing movie all time with almost $3 billion made worldwide.
Part of such a monumental sum was £450 million from China alone.
Mulan will be released in UK cinemas on March 27 while No Time To Die follows on April 2, 2020.