Sex scenes cut from Cloud Atlas for Chinese viewers

Published on 25/01/2013 00:00

Nearly 40 minutes have been chopped from the Hollywood film Cloud Atlas for Chinese audiences, deleting both gay and straight love scenes to satisfy local censors.

Awkward cuts by the authorities to the most recent James Bond offering, Skyfall, which opened in China on Monday, have already prompted public calls for a review of the film censorship system.

China allows only 34 foreign films to be shown in its cinemas each year and 14 of those have to be in 3D or Imax format.

However, pirated and uncensored DVDs of blockbusters are widely available in China.