Beijing, Aug 23 (UNI) The latest movie in the "Despicable Me" franchise premiered in China with a completely different ending, local viewers have said.

"Minions 2: The Rise of Gru" follows antihero Gru in his teenage days and sets up his evolution into a supervillain later in the series.

But unlike the original movie, the Chinese version does not end with Gru and his mentor Wild Knuckles riding off into the sunset, a BBC report said.

Instead, Wild Knuckles is jailed while Gru "becomes one of the good guys" in the Chinese version that was released on Friday. Gru's alternate ending conveniently promoted China's three-child policy, as the country tries to raise its birth rate, some said.

Posts and screenshots of the film, shared on Chinese microblogging site Weibo, showed censors had added a series of subtitled still images into the credits sequence.

In it, they explain that Wild Knuckles was caught and locked up for 20 years after a failed heist. He also discovers a "love of acting" and sets up a theatrical troupe.

Gru, meanwhile, "returned to his family" and being a father to his three girls became his "biggest accomplishment".

The change was derided by many in China. "The real story is in a parallel universe," BBC quoted one person as saying.

It is not the first time a popular foreign film has had its ending altered for China, which has some of the world's strictest censorship rules.

Earlier this year, a version of 1999 cult American film Fight Club released on Chinese streaming platform Tencent Video had its original ending removed and replaced, the BBC said.

UNI ING