New Delhi

In the last few years, China has put regulatory hurdles in front of big Hollywood movies from releasing in the country. This is the next best thing to an explicit ban. However, this hurts the American film industry, for China is an important market for its films. That was not so earlier. But it all changed when 2009's 'Avatar' brought in an unheard-of $200 million to 20th Century Fox, and then big studios began to do everything they could to secure a China release. And to pass the country's stringent censors, they had to cut everything that the Communist Party might find unpalatable, including the obvious ones like nudity and sex but also less obvious ones such as homosexuality, actors of colour, imagery of recognisable American symbols like Statue of Liberty, and so on.

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Even as China has tightened the censors, it has made attempts to match the scale and scope of epic Hollywood movies in projects bankrolled by the government, and there have been successes like 'The Battle at Lake Changjin', which was the second-highest grossing movie of 2021 globally after 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'.

But there was one project as ambitious and expensive called 'Born to Fly' that was unceremoniously abandoned. As per The Hollywood Reporter, the film was meant to be the Chinese answer to Tom Cruise-starrer 'Top Gun: Maverick'. Just like 'Maverick' the film, produced in association with the People’s Liberation Army Air Force, was going to be a showcase of China's airborne firepower, specifically the stealth fighter jet J-20.

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It was going to be released on September 30 and many pegged it as the next Chinese success. But it was abandoned, with a statement saying it was postponed to show "better production effects.”

As per THR, the filmmakers realised after watching 'Top Gun: Maverick' that their movie's visuals were far inferior compared to the Hollywood movie and they, along with Chinese Communist Party feared that the country and its film industry will be a subject of mockery and derision around the world.

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But what now? Can the effects be improved and the movie might see the light of day? As per a THR source, nothing is certain, and it is possible that the movie may never release at all.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski and written by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie from a story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks, 'Maverick' was the sequel to the 1986 classic 'Top Gun' and brought back Cruise in the role of Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, who is now a test pilot and flight instructor. The film was a huge success, almost earning $1.5 billion worldwide.

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