Sony Pictures head Tom Rothman has come clean about why Spider-Man: No Way Home was banned in China.
In a new interview with Puck’s Matt Belloni on The Town podcast, Rothman confirmed Puck’s 2021 report that the China Film Administration wanted to censor symbols of American patriotism in the film.
According to Rothman, the group “just said, ‘Small thing, no problem, just cut out the Statue of Liberty’—which is where the climax is. That was their request.”
Rothman made the rare move of not caving to the demand, missing out on what he told Belloni he “knows” would have been a boon for the film’s final box office numbers.
Spider-Man: No Way Home, starring Tom Holland and Zendaya, ultimately made $1.9 billion globally in 2021, which he told Belloni “p---es me off to have to say.” He explained, “It didn’t get into China, but in my mind, the film made “over” $2 billion. “Because I know what we would have done in China.”
According to Box Office Mojo, the first of the Tom Holland Spider-Man films, 2017’s Spider‑Man: Homecoming, made $116 million in China. Its successor, 2019’s Spider‑Man: Far From Home, made $198 million.
Concluded Rothman on the subject, “Also, I really didn’t look forward to sitting in front of Congress telling them why I cut the Statue of Liberty out at the request of the Chinese Communist Party.”
The studio chief then revealed on the podcast that Spider-Man will get yet another live-action reboot with “new people”—but not too soon. “Scarcity has value,” he said, “you’ve got to make the audience miss you.”
