Leading actor Edward Norton at the premiere of “Fight Club” in Hollywood, 1999.
Photo: AFP via Getty Images, LUCY NICHOLSON. All rights reserved.
+++ Warning, spoilers +++
The 1999 cult film “Fight Club” received an alternative ending on the Chinese streaming service Tencent Video. The author of the book, Chuck Palahniuk, has now commented on the censored film adaptation of his novel.
Palahniuk has mixed feelings about the change. He likes one thing about it: the new version is more like his novel than the ending of director David Fincher’s film version. “The irony of this is that the Chinese adapted the ending almost exactly to the end of the book, as opposed to Fincher’s finale, which was more visually spectacular,” says the author. “In a way, the Chinese have brought the film a little bit back to the novel.”
In the course of censorship, the original ending was completely deleted
In Fincher’s version, the film ends with bank buildings exploding and consumer society smashed. In the Chinese version, on the other hand, only a sober still image with text is displayed.
It read: “Police discovered the plan and all those involved were arrested, preventing the bomb from detonating. Following the trial, Tyler was committed to and treated in a psychiatric hospital. In 2012 he was released”.
FIGHT CLUB’s ending for the Chinese release (on Tencent Video) was changed to this and now I’m waiting for someone to fanfic a sequel based on this censored ending. pic.twitter.com/zYB0bY3Dlp
— Courtney Howard @ #Sundance (@Lulamaybelle) January 24, 2022
However, the Chinese alternative ending doesn’t completely resemble the book of the film. Also towards the end of the novel, Tyler is committed to a psychiatric hospital. But once there, he discovers that some of his fellow campaigners work as employees in the hospital. They tell Tyler that everything is going according to plan and that his return is expected.