Now here is a spoiler: In 2013, extra-terrestrial life forms were set to attack the Great Wall until Sony Pictures China chief representative Li Chow reportedly advised otherwise. Sony Pictures Entertainment executives graciously obliged, as seen two years later. Thus, the historic landmark in the Middle Kingdom was spared from destruction and on September 15, "Pixels" is expected to rake in sizeable revenue from the world's second biggest box office.

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Quite expectedly, creators of the science fiction comedy "Pixels," starring Adam Sandler and Peter Dinklage, yielded to the thought of a possible backlash should China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) find anything in the movie's content that may "disparage the government, endanger national unity or harm public morals." To gain access to the goldmine that is the Chinese market, Sony removed that scene and more from the initial script, Reuters revealed.

The discovery was made when internal e-mails and documents were hacked and publicized in 2014. The breached correspondence included an email from Li to senior executives suggesting that the strike on the ancient fortress was "unnecessary." Meanwhile, the final version shows aliens freely reducing the Washington Monument and the Taj Mahal, among others, into pixelated debris.

"Even though breaking a hole on the Great Wall may not be a problem as long as it is part of a worldwide phenomenon, it is actually unnecessary because it will not benefit the China release at all. I would then, recommend not to do it," Li wrote.

Unnecessary indeed as taking such chance might have caused Pixels a spot from the 34 foreign films permitted for viewing in China amid the country's campaign to strengthen patronage of domestic productions. The hole that China, with its billion-dollar boost to Hollywood movies, could leave on the revenue count is too massive to overlook.

Aside from sparing the Great Wall, Li also proposed that a destructive car chase involving the video game character Pac-Man in Shanghai is "not a good idea." For her, the damages that the scene may incur on the city in the movie would be a hard line to draw when it comes to the "unwritten rule" of what makes an acceptable property destruction.

Pixels is not the first movie to have faced adjustments for the viewing pleasures of China's censors. In 2014, it was decided that survival thriller "Captain Phillips" could not be shown in Chinese cinemas. In one of the exposed e-mails from Sony, an executive emphasized on the huge blow caused by the censors' rejection.

On the other hand, Sony Pictures spokesperson told Reuters, "There are myriad factors that go into determining what is best for a film's release, and creating content that has a wide global appeal without compromising creative integrity is top among them."

TagsPixels movie, Great Wall of China, SARFT, Sony Pictures, Pac-Man, Captain Phillips, China movie censorhip, China Hollywood censorship, Sony Pictures Pixels, Great Wall Pixels, Adam Sandler, Peter Dinklage