Being the world’s second-largest film market has its advantages, and one of them appears to be making sure the entire world only watches content that it deems suitable.

According to leaked e-mails between its executives, the final worldwide version of Sony Pictures’ Pixels has been altered from its original script in order to cater to Chinese censors. What’s more, Sony executives are shown to be very accommodating in censoring their own product in order for their film to reach the lucrative Chinese market. According to a Reuters report, the Adam Sandler vehicle has had all of its Chinese references cut out from the movie. The 2013 script for Pixels originally included a scene in which intergalactic aliens are seen blowing up the Great Wall of China. As well, a scene in which China is blamed for an attack did not make the final cut as did a reference to a “Communist conspiracy brother” blamed for hacking an e-mail server.

Tens of thousands of confidential e-mails between Sony executives were leaked in a massive security breach last year. With the US government blaming hackers from North Korea, the breach resulted in the botched release of The Interview, a comedy in which North Korean leader Kim Jung-Un is targeted for assassination by the CIA.

The leaked e-mails show Sony executives are very willing to “harmonize” their movie for Chinese sensibilities rather than to adhere to the film’s original premise or any ideals of artistic freedom.

Here’s Li Chow, chief representative of Sony Pictures in China:

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.

And here’s Steven O’Dell, president of Sony Pictures Releasing International:

Changing the China elements to another country should be a relatively easy fix. There is only downside to leaving the film as it is. Recommendation is to change all versions as if we only change the China version, We set ourselves up for the press to call us out for this when bloggers invariably compare the versions and realize we changed the China setting just to pacify that market.we set ourselves up for the press to call us out for this when bloggers invariably compare the versions and realize we changed the China setting just to pacify that market.

Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution at Sony Pictures, points out that not gaining the approval of Chinese authorities and losing out on the Chinese market results in a massive loss for the company. Bruer points out that Captain Philips did not get approval for Chinese distribution:

The reality of the situation is that China will probably never clear the film [Captain Phillips] for censorship, reasons being the big Military machine of the US saving one US citizen. China would never do the same and in no way would want to promote this idea. Also just the political tone of the film is something that they would not feel comfortable with.

The hack of the Sony Pictures e-mail server was of such importance that US President Barack Obama spoke out about foreign influences upon the US ideal of freedom:

If somebody is able to intimidate folks out of releasing a satirical movie, imagine what they start doing when they see a documentary that they don’t like, or news reports that they don’t like. Or even worse, imagine if producers and distributors and others start engaging in self-censorship because they don’t want to offend the sensibilities of somebody whose sensibilities probably need to be offended. That’s not who we are. That’s not what America is about.

But it may be that the influence has long been felt in Hollywood. Red Dawn (2012) producer Tripp Vinson said the nationality of the army invading the USA in the film was changed from China to North Korea in post-production.

Even still, Hollywood movies that do get approved for Chinese distribution routinely have its content cut or altered, as seen in the Chinese releases of Skyfall and Mission: Impossible 3. Moreover, some Hollywood movies like Iron Man 3 and Transformers: Age of Extinction feature content made either exclusively or specifically for a Chinese audience.

Pixels was recently approved for the Chinese film market and will debut on September 15. It currently has a rating of 18 percent on the critic aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. Meanwhile, the Chinese film market is on course for another record-breaking year after having earned $3.3 billion in the first half of 2015.