8 Movies That Were Changed AFTER They Were Released

8. Chow Yun-Fat's Role Was Cut In Half (Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End)

The Chinese market is an important pillar for any blockbuster movie looking to rake in the big bucks. If a movie is able to "crack" that country, then there's an army of avid moviegoers there who can add anything from $290 million (Aquaman) to $600 million (Avengers: Endgame) to a movie's overall gross.

And since studio executives really, really love the smell of money, it's not unheard of for movies to try and appease Chinese censors in order to secure a release there, or even tailor the content of the film specifically towards Chinese audiences. We've seen practices like these a lot lately, but even as far back as 2007's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, movies have been tweaked and edited with the sole intention of drawing the most money from the Chinese market.

The swashbuckling threequel featured Asian actor Chow Yun-fat as Sao Feng, a Pirate Lord. In the version of the film that was released in the USA and UK in May 2007, the character has roughly 20 minutes of screentime, but this cut was heavily edited to reduce that time significantly, just in time for the movie's Chinese launch in June.

Chinese censors slashed Yun-fat's role in half, giving him only ten minutes of onscreen action. This decision was made because the Sao Feng character was described as "vilifying and defacing the Chinese", with his grizzled, sinister appearance not exactly making him look like the friendliest of chaps.

In the end, the film made just $16 million in China, so securing a release there didn't really matter too much anyway.