Tom Cruise on the set of “Top Gun”.
Paramount Pictures | Sunset Boulevard | Corbis | Getty Images
After 36 years, the sequel to the classic Tom Cruise film Top Gun was a commercial and critical success, grossing $248 million at the global box office in its opening weekend. In Taiwan, it is also celebrated for another reason: not to pander to China.
In 2019, the trailer for Top Gun: Maverick featured Cruise’s character, US Navy pilot Pete Mitchell, in the same suicide jacket he wore in the original film. But it appears that two of the flag’s patches – representing Japan and the Republic of China, the official name of Taiwan – have been replaced by other emblems.
The move was criticized at the time as an act of self-censorship to please China’s censors. Beijing considers Taiwan, a democratic, self-governing country of 24 million people, an integral part of its territory and criticizes any reference to it as a sovereign state.
After 36 years, the sequel to the classic Tom Cruise film Top Gun was a commercial and critical success, grossing $248 million at the global box office in its opening weekend. In Taiwan, it is also celebrated for another reason: not to pander to China.
In 2019, the trailer for Top Gun: Maverick featured Cruise’s character, US Navy pilot Pete Mitchell, in the same suicide jacket he wore in the original film. But it appears that two of the flag’s patches – representing Japan and the Republic of China, the official name of Taiwan – have been replaced by other emblems.
The move was criticized at the time as an act of self-censorship to please China’s censors. Beijing considers Taiwan, a democratic, self-governing country of 24 million people, an integral part of its territory and criticizes any reference to it as a sovereign state.
Hollywood is very much attached to Beijing’s sensibilities to access and profit from the lucrative Chinese market. Last year, “Fast & Furious” actor John Cena profusely apologized in Mandarin Chinese to his Chinese fans for calling Taiwan a country during a teaser tour for the series’ latest movie.
Experts say the inclusion of the Taiwanese flag in Top Gun: Maverick may signal a shift in Hollywood away from a culture of respect for China’s red lines.
said Ayn Kokas, associate professor of media studies at the University of Virginia and author of Hollywood Made in China.
Hollywood movies including Marvel’s “Eternals” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” have been blocked from Chinese screens after the film’s co-directors or actors made critical comments about China.
Chinese tech giant Tencent said in 2019 it was investing in the second part of the “Top Gun”. The Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing people familiar with the funding, that it later withdrew over concerns that its support for a film with strong pro-US military themes would anger officials in the ruling Communist Party.
NBC News requested comment from Paramount Pictures as well as from Tencent’s offices in China, where it was a public holiday on Friday, and from Los Angeles.
With “Top Gun: Maverick” not expected to be released in mainland China, Kokas said, the filmmakers had more flexibility in their decision making.
“Especially for a movie like Top Gun: Maverick, a tribute to the U.S. Army released in time for the Memorial Day holiday in the United States, there is a clear incentive to play with the film’s more reliable audience,” she said, “and it seems to have paid off financially.”