10 Movies That Made No Sense If You Watched Them In Other Countries
8. The Entire Chinese Restaurant Subplot Was Cut For China - Men In Black 3
In order for Men in Black 3 to be released in China, the film had to have 13 of its 98 screen minutes (not counting credits) cut - that amounts to almost 15% of the entire movie.
Most of the cut material was a lengthy sequence from the sequel's first act, where J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) pay a visit to a Chinese restaurant that's actually run by aliens disguised as Chinese people, who have been feeding alien food to their human guests.
A lengthy shootout soon enough breaks out, J fights a giant alien fish, and J and K meet up with the primary villain Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement) on the rooftop. J then neuralises a group of Asian passers-by to make them forget the insanity they just saw.
The Chinese state is extremely picky about how their citizens are depicted on-screen, and any Hollywood movie that characterises a Chinese person, even as an alien interpoler in disguise, in a negative way will likely need to cut said material to secure a release.
And so, this entire sequence was cleaved away, despite the fact that it also includes the first on-screen meeting between the heroes and the villain, and includes a ton of vital expository dialogue about K and Boris' past.
Needless to say, Chinese audiences must've struggled to make head or tail of what the hell was going on.