We're betting Cloud Atlas' producers aren't on cloud nine over this.
The trippy ensemble sci-fi saga headlined by Tom Hanks and Halle Berry has been aggressively censored by its Chinese distributor, who chopped off a whopping 30 minutes from the film before it premiered in Beijing earlier this week, The Wrap reports.
The biggest sting? Its filmmakers, including codirectors Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer, weren't clued in to any of the cuts, giving everyone a jarring surprise when the film finally bowed at its splashy Chinese premiere, which was attended by costar Hugo Weaving.
"We were unaware that our Chinese partners…had cut almost 30 minutes from the film," Cloud Atlas' producers, Grant Hill and Philip Lee, told The Wrap. "We did know that, as with other countries, there were likely to be censorship trims, and we trusted them to protect the integrity of the filmmaker's creativity and vision."
Those filmmakers were none too happy either: At the premiere, Lana Wachowski bemoaned to reporters, "It sucks really," before quipping, "But I believe you can watch the full version online."
Snippets of the movie that reportedly ended up on the censors' cutting-room floor included sex scenes featuring both gay and straight characters, as well as violent set pieces.
Chinese officials and local movie honchos have been actively clamping down on films whose content they deem objectionable, even as moviegoers increasingly bristle at censors' often unreasonable, prudish and propaganda-driven edits.
Recently, Skyfall fell prey to Chinese censors' trigger-happy trims after a scene featuring a Chinese man's death was edited out and several subtitles were rewritten.
Even Titanic wasn't spared when the film was rereleased in 3-D last year, and officials promptly excised scenes featuring Kate Winslet's breasts.
Breasts. 3-D. Censors. The punch line is up for grabs.