In China, censors are Hollywood's best friends

China's film industry is one of the country's great growth stories over the last two decades

The odds were stacked against Spiderman in China. Two weeks ago, the latest film featuring the superhero, Spiderman: Far From Home, was slated to open against The Eight Hundred a highly anticipated, big-budget war movie. But, in a plot twist that’s left local filmmakers reeling, the Chinese film was cancelled just days before its release, allegedly because it’d fallen out of favour with censors. In its absence, Spiderman had a nearly $100 million opening weekend — far beyond expectations. The US blockbuster is currently China’s second-most popular draw, one of six foreign films in the top 10.

This isn’t the Hollywood