Paramount's recently released Top Gun: Maverick has lost a major investor, Tencent Pictures -- who signed on as a co-financier early on in 2019 -- over concerns the film will upset Chinese authorities.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Tencent Holdings wished to avoid being affiliated with the Paramount film and pulled out of project after growing concerns about the film's U.S military-centric themes and message, which would risk anger the Communist Party-ruled Chinese government.
It's important to note that this follows a long-running decline in the relationship between the U.S and China, as well as an increasing focus on nationalist films, which makes involvement in a film glorifying the U.S Navy potentially harmful for Chinese firms. Particularly a firm such as Tencent Holdings, which has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
At the time of writing, Top Gun: Maverick has not been given a release date in China and is not expected to be released for audiences there. The Paramount feature film is another in a long list of Hollywood blockbusters that have been banned or otherwise prevented from entering the Chinese market. Reports over 2021 have detailed what appears to be a lockout of Hollywood films, despite the official quota for foreign films in China remaining at 34 per annum.
The shift in attitude concerning Top Gun: Maverick became a subject of discussion when the film was released worldwide, when it was shown a visual change, presented in 2019, had been undone. The change was originally made to appease Chinese censors. In 2019, a trailer for Maverick featured Pete Mitchell's iconic jacket, this time without the Taiwanese and Japanese flags. They were replaced by visually similar flags with no affiliation to any country. The flags appear once again in the released film.
The 1986 original, Top Gun, established that Maverick's jacked originally belong to his father. It possesses the Taiwanese and Japanese flags sat next to the United States flag, representing areas his father toured. The reversion to the unaltered jacket appears to have already angered Chinese netizens.
On top of being a critical hit, Top Gun: Maverick has already proven itself to be a box office success. The sequel is on track to earn over $51 million opening day, including $19.3 million in previews, making it Paramount's biggest opening ever.
Top Gun: Maverick is playing in theaters now.
Source: Wall Street Journal