Chinese demanded that the Statue of Liberty be removed from Spider-Man 3

One of the reasons why Chinese censors decided not to issue a rental certificate for the film "Spider-Man 3: No Way Home" has been named. Sources claim that the supervisors demanded the removal of the Statue of Liberty, which turned out to be one of the main locations of the final part of the picture.
They then asked if Sony could cut a few patriotic scenes involving Tom Holland standing on top of the crown, or dim the lighting so Lady Liberty's face wouldn't be as bright. Sony seriously considered this request, but ultimately rejected it, realizing that it surely meant the loss of potentially huge box office receipts in China. Could the studio have made this change? Perhaps, but the move would have caused a media storm in the U.S. and other countries," the source commented.
Recall that the head of Sony Pictures Tom Rothman, speaking at CinemaCon before the film's release, predicted that it could collect more than three billion dollars in worldwide box office. Without the Chinese market, that was completely impossible. Nevertheless, "Spider-Man 3" was very successful and finished with a $1.8 billion result since the pandemic began.