Warner Bros. permitted Chinese censors to remove six seconds of dialogue from Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore in order to secure its release in the country.
The Wizarding World film arrived in China on 8 April, winning the box office there that weekend with around $9.7 million.
Minor Spoiler Alert for anyone who has not seen the film after this point
The lines in question were, “because I was in love with you” and “the summer Gellert and I fell in love”, both from Jude Law's Dumbledore. The rest of the film remained intact and it’s understood there is still a close relationship between the characters.
JK Rowling had established that Albus Dumbledore was gay in 2009, but it hadn't been explicitly stated on screen until the new movie. Warners issued a statement on the cut.
"As a studio, we’re committed to safeguarding the integrity of every film we release, and that extends to circumstances that necessitate making nuanced cuts in order to respond sensitively to a variety of in-market factors," it said. "Our hope is to release our features worldwide as released by their creators but historically we have faced small edits made in local markets.
In the case of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore, a six-second cut was requested and Warner Bros. accepted those changes to comply with local requirements but the spirit of the film remains intact," the statement adds. "We want audiences everywhere in the world to see and enjoy this film, and it’s important to us that Chinese audiences have the opportunity to experience it as well, even with these minor edits."
China has a long history of removing anything its government considers questionable or inflammatory and most US studios tend to alter their movies to go along with their demands.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore is in UK cinemas now, in its full, 142-minute length.