Spider-Man: Why No Way Home Wasn’t Released in China & What That Means for Brand New Day

The surprising reason why Spider-Man: No Way Home wasn’t released in China has been revealed.

Released in 2021, Spider-Man: No Way Home is the third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series starring Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. The movie, directed by Jon Watts, also features Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, and Benedict Cumberbatch as MJ, Ned, and Doctor Strange, respectively.

Why wasn’t Spider-Man: No Way Home released in China?

Spider-Man: No Way Home was a huge financial success, earning around $1.9 billion worldwide. Despite this, it wasn’t shown in China, and Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman recently explained the reason behind that decision.

I was listening to Matt Belloni’s podcast, and Sony’s Tom Rothman was talking about Spider-Man: No Way Home, and it was pretty wild. He was frustrated that he even had to explain this, but the movie made $1.9 billion worldwide. He thinks it would have easily surpassed $2 billion if it had been released in China. Apparently, the Chinese government would only approve it if they cut a scene featuring the Statue of Liberty – which, unbelievably, was the climax of the movie! He said he really didn’t want to have to explain that decision to Congress, especially since it was at the request of the Chinese Communist Party. It just sounds like a crazy situation he had to navigate to even get the film seen over there.

According to Rothman, the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day (also referred to as Spider-Man 4) doesn’t feature any scenes with the Statue of Liberty.

I’m so excited for the new Spider-Man movie, Brand New Day, coming out July 31, 2026! Of course, Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon are back, but the cast is getting even bigger! I can’t believe they’ve added Jon Bernthal as the Punisher, Mark Ruffalo as Hulk, Michael Mando as Scorpion, and Marvin Jones III as Tombstone. It’s going to be amazing!

Spider-Man: No Way Home, meanwhile, is currently streaming on Disney+.

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2026-02-25 00:06