Coming soon to a theater near you: China’s Communist Party.
From demanding changes in plot lines that denigrate the Chinese leadership, to dampening lurid depictions of sex and violence, Beijing is having increasing success in pressuring Hollywood into deleting movie content Beijing finds objectionable.
It’s even getting American studios to sanction alternative versions of films specially tailored for Chinese audiences, like “Iron Man 3,” now in the midst of an overseas rollout before its U.S. debut. The Chinese version features local heartthrob Fan Bingbing — absent from the version showing abroad — and lengthy clips of Chinese scenery that local audiences love.