Original ‘Fight Club’ ending restored in China amid censorship backlash

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The ending of David Fincher’s cult classic "Fight Club" is now viewable in China.

The original 1999 film, which starred Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter ends with the narrator (Norton) killing off his imaginary alter ego Tyler Durden (Pitt). He then watches as buildings explode across the city skyline.

A crucial tenet of China’s film censorship is that criminals must always be punished for their crimes onscreen. As a result, societal harmony is restored. Before the 20th Century Fox movie began airing in the country, Tencent significantly altered the movie's ending.

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"Fight Club" starred Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

For their variation, the final scene was replaced with a blank screen showing the message: "The police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding. After the trial, Tyler was sent to a lunatic asylum receiving psychological treatment."

News of the alterations went viral and sparked backlash on Chinese social media, specifically among local film fans who snagged pirated copies of the original cut, as well as moviegoers who’ve seen "Fight Club" elsewhere in the world.

Since the public outcry, Tencent has quietly restored most of the cuts it has made, The Hollywood Reporter revealed on Sunday. According to the outlet, the complete ending of "Fight Club" is now viewable in full in China.

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Edward Norton arrives at the premiere of "Fight Club" in Los Angeles, circa 1999. (Lucy Nicholson/AFP via Getty Images)

The outlet noted that the streaming service has restored 11 of the 12 minutes it originally cut from the 137-minute movie. The missing minute is a brief nude sex scene between Pitt and Carter’s characters.

A spokesperson for Tencent didn’t immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

This isn’t the first time in recent years that a successful Hollywood film has faced censorship in China. After winning multiple Oscars in 2019, "Bohemian Rhapsody" was granted a theatrical release in the country, but only after all mentions of Freddie Mercury’s homosexuality were cut from the film, the outlet shared. The 20th Century Fox biopic earned $14 million in China, but human rights groups were publicly critical about the straightwashed version.

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A brief nude scene between Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter is still missing. (Eric Vandeville/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

"Fight Club" author Chuck Palahniuk previously spoke out about the censored ending of the film, revealing that China’s ending was truer to the original vision of his book.