TOP GUN: MAVERICK Reverses Decision To Hide Taiwanese Flag on Tom Cruise’s Jacket
By Movieguide® Contributor
TOP GUN: MAVERICK soared to the top of the box office in its debut over Memorial Day weekend. But early in production, eagle-eyed fans wondered if the movie removed an important part of Tom Cruise’s costume in a bid to appease China.
When the TOP GUN: MAVERICK trailer first dropped in 2019, people noticed that Cruise’s character, Maverick, was missing a patch from his jacket.
The missing patch was the Taiwanese flag, which represented Maverick’s father’s battleship tours in Taiwan and Japan in the early ‘60s.
There’s a new Top Gun movie coming out. And Maverick is wearing the same leather jacket – only this time it’s Communist Party of China-approved, so the Japanese and Taiwanese flag patches are gone (screenshot on right is from the new trailer)… pic.twitter.com/gUxFNFNUKX
— Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) July 19, 2019
Some fans believed that the missing flag was due the filmmakers’ desire to appease China’s strict censorship laws. However, no one confirmed why the patch was changed. Ultimately, the flag was retuned to the jacked upon its theatrical release.
“It is unprecedented. Major film studios have never been shy about pandering to the Chinese market,” film critic Ho Sie Bun said of the patch’s return. “And even if it is a simple scene, editing is very costly. So no one knows why they changed it back.”
While Taiwan sees themselves as an independent nation, China considers the country part of their territory. Sony previously refused to remove the Statue of Liberty from SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME, resulting in China refusing to air the movie.
Movieguide®’s review of TOP GUN: MAVERICK reads:
TOP GUN: MAVERICK is a terrific, powerful, exciting movie. It’s full of high drama and heart-pounding action scenes. This role was made for Tom Cruise. He gets great support from Miles Teller as Goose’s son and Jennifer Connelly as Maverick’s romantic interest. TOP GUN: MAVERICK has a strong moral, Pro-American, patriotic worldview. It also tells a strong redemptive story leading to sacrifice, forgiveness and reconciliation. However, TOP GUN: MAVERICK is marred by too many obscenities and three strong profanities. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises strong or extreme caution.
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