"The movie King and the Clown could not pass the deliberation process in China because of the homosexual code and sexually explicit language in the movie," an official with South Korean entertainment company CJ said from its Beijing office.
The movie has taken in more than US$85 million in South Korea and sold about 12 million tickets in a country with a population of around 48 million.
Homosexuality was considered a mental disorder in China as recently as 2001 and is still a highly sensitive subject.
In the movie, which finished its run in South Korea earlier this year, the relations among the king and his two jesters are not well defined and there are no sex scenes, but a romance is implied.
The most heated the movie becomes is when the king shares longing looks with one effeminate clown as they put on a puppet show together.
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