(JustPatriots.com)- You might anticipate the prequel, ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru,’ to explain how Gru became a villain.
You’d be enlightened unless you’re watching the movie in China, where censors have turned the villain into a hero.
In subtitled post-credit scenes added when the film was released in China last week, viewers learn Gru “finally became one of the good people who was committed to raising his family.”
Western moviegoers see how Gru tricked the police and defeated his rivals to become the world’s top villain.
Post-credit sequences show cops catching Wild Knuckles, Gru’s mentor who faked his death in the original.
In the Chinese version, the police aren’t fooled and jail up Knuckles for 20 years.
In jail, he reforms and discovers his ‘passion for performing,’ forming a theater troupe for other inmates.
Minions: Rise of Gru seems tailor-made for Chinese consumers as Hollywood chases the country’s hefty profits.
The film’s climactic action scene takes place in San Francisco’s Chinatown in a rush to seize the ‘zodiac stone.’
According to Deadline, the movie premiered in third place at the Chinese box office, making nearly $3 million in one day.
It’s not the first time a popular international picture has been adapted for Chinese cinemas, where the entertainment sector must promote ‘healthy’ values.
David Fincher’s 1999 cult masterpiece ‘Fight Club,’ about nihilistic anarchists, has also been attacked.
When the cult hit was released to Tencent Video in January, cops foiled the protagonist’s attempt to blow up the world’s largest banks. In the original movie, the banks collapse as bombs in their basements detonate.
It’s unknown if the ‘Minions’ finale was changed because of censors or because the creators thought it was better for the Chinese market.
Universal didn’t immediately comment to AFP.
One fan on the Twitter-like Weibo social media network said they went to the movie to watch the new ending but was disappointed that it was ‘only subtitles.’
Others were disappointed by the contrast between young Gru’s development into a good man in the prequel movie and his continued nasty behavior in the subsequent film, which was set in the present.
Weibo user: ‘We can only say Gru lives in a parallel Minion reality.’
