China censors gay storyline from Harry Potter franchise film Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
- Despite the censorship, the film bombed at the Chinese box office — taking just US$2.97 million on a budget of US$200 million
- Many Chinese viewers complained about a lack of Chinese mythological creatures and said the film was less entertaining than previous instalments
The censored dialogue, the removal of which was a condition of securing the film’s release in the lucrative Chinese market, is an exchange during a pivotal scene between two of the central characters Albus Dumbledore, played in the film by Jude Law, and Gellert Grindelwald, played by Mads Mikkelsen.
The two lines, which amounted to six seconds of the film’s total airtime, were: “ … because I was in love with you.” and “The summer Gellert and I fell in love”.
Online reaction has been critical of the decision to censor the storyline.
“The movie is produced by Warner Bros. They made the choice to allow the content to be censored in order for the movie to be played in China, and profit from that distribution deal. They could have chosen not to. They decided that it’s worth it to censor gay people. Consider that,” wrote Twitter user Daniel Camilo.
In a statement obtained by the South China Morning Post Warner Bros attempted to downplay the significance of the censored lines and claimed the edits were “minor” and had no impact on the film experience for moviegoers.