The Walt Disney Co movie 'Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest' has been banned from cinemas in China because it depicts people eating human flesh, the Shanghai Daily reported citing a cinema company official.
'The movie didn't get the approval of the state authority,' an official from Shanghai United Cinema Lines, the city's movie chain, told the newspaper.
The official, who declined to be named, told the paper the main reason it failed to secure approval was the scenes of cannibalism in the movie.
The scenes are a key part of the movie's plot and cannot be easily changed or cut, the paper said.
The movie took a record 132 mln usd in its first three days, according to studio estimates Sunday, beating the previous all-time best debut, 2002's 'Spider-Man,' which took in 114.8 mln usd in its first weekend.
China does not have a movie-rating system. Often the government will suggest producers cut violence or sex scenes before it gives approval for the movie to be screened, the paper said.
Producers of 'Mission Impossible 3,' which is expected to be released in mid-July, changed some dialogue and cut scenes to pave the film's way to the cinema, the paper noted.
Scenes showing laundry hanging from washing lines and old people playing mahjong ended up being cut.
