Local cinema chain TGV Cinemas today said it has not censored the part pig, part human character, Zhu Bajie, from a poster to promote the upcoming Hong Kong action fantasy film ‘Journey to the West – The Monkey King 2’.

Responding to Malaysiakini’s inquiry on Zhu Bajie’s disappearance from the poster, a TGV spokesperson in an e-mail instead said that it merely received the content and poster provided by the movie distributor.

“Currently, we do not have any information about this movie and we will update you once we received information,” said the spokesperson.

The original poster of the film, by a China and Hong Kong production house, showed the monk Tang Sanzang and his disciples Monkey King Sun Wukong, Sha Wujing and Zhu Bajie.

Zhu Bajie is pictured on the right of the Monkey King in the poster but is missing on the promotional posters, including a billboard erected on Jalan Loke Yew.

The film’s title was placed in the same space where Zhu Bajie was in the original poster.

All movies screened in Malaysia must be vetted by the Film Censorship Board and Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed told Malaysiakini on Sunday that the board will make a decision “in the best interest of the country, not the movie producer”.

The star-studded production features top Hong Kong actor Aaron Kwok as the Monkey King, China film star Feng Shao Feng as the monk, Hong Kong star Him Law as Sha Wujing, and China comedian Xiao Shen Yang as Zhu Bajie.