China Censors Take Wolverine Claws to ‘Logan,’ Slice 14 Minutes Off Runtime

This post comes courtesy of our content partners at China Film Insider.

Censors have cut 14 minutes from the film’s 137-minute US runtime, citing violence and perhaps also the “brief nudity” cited by the Motion Picture Association of America’s own R-rating, state-run media reported. Logan opens in China on March 3.

China’s State Administration of Press, Publications, Radio, Film, and Television (SAPPRFT) continues to ignore calls for a film rating system, which doesn’t exist in the country, requiring all films to reach a general audiences cut. That usually means removing graphic violence, nudity and sexual situations, and supernatural themes.

Censors have previously taken a giant pair of scissors to the Wachowskis’ Cloud Atlas, cutting 35 minutes off that film’s runtime, and have made changes to films, including in the Harry Potter series, that altered the plot or made the story incomprehensible. In February, seven minutes of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter‘s tight 99 minutes were lopped off, although it’s not difficult to see why in a blood-and-guts zombie movie. Films that cannot, or will not, make requested cuts are not approved for release.

READ: Signs From China Suggest A Good Deal For Hollywood on Imports

Despite increasing calls from parents for a film rating system, it’s not currently under government discussion. One government official even referred to a rating system as “legalizing pornography” in 2008.

In 2016, distributors of Mel Gibson’s war drama Hacksaw Ridge took the unusual step of announcing to film audiences a recommended age limit of 12 years old and up. It marked the first time that a film in China, imported or domestic, assigned itself a default but voluntary rating.

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