Even as the upcoming Monster Hunter film prepares for its premiere in the west, it looks like the movie has already hit a major snag in the Chinese market.

According to various reports, screenings of the movie in Mainland China have been removed from the country’s theater schedules, shortly after its premiere on 3 December 2020. This is apparently due to a joke in the film that rhymes the words “knees” and “Chinese”, which was perceived as an offensive jab at Chinese ethnicity.

Great writing in the Monster Hunter movie… pic.twitter.com/jTRnKOClCi

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) December 4, 2020

Anyway, this is going down about as well as you’d expect in China where it’s being linked to the rhyme / phrase “Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees – look at these?” which is considered offensive. pic.twitter.com/pQCFNQ86Je

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) December 4, 2020

As noted by @ZhugeEX, the supposedly offensive line has angered numerous netizens online, who have proceeded to review bomb Monster Hunter World’s Steam page and give the movie negative reviews in protest. Capcom has since issued a statement that it would look into the matter, although it clarified that it was not the producer of the film.

Meanwhile on the Monster Hunter World (Steam) review page.

The movie is also getting a lot of negative reviews on Chinese movie sites like Douban too. Its rating has dropped a lot over the past few hours. pic.twitter.com/K82zB3zfxt

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) December 4, 2020

Capcom has issued a statement on social media due to the backlash, stating that it is aware of the situation and the controversy. That it is not the producer on the MH movie and that it will report the situation to the relevant film companies to investigate. pic.twitter.com/KxMWP6H69I

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) December 4, 2020

As at the time of writing, it appears that the movie could be heading for a re-cut to remove this scene from future screenings. We’ll report back if we hear more about how the situation develops in the future.