Warner Bros.’s blockbuster hit Barbie has reportedly been banned in Algeria, as some Middle East countries continue to object to the Hollywood movie’s themes of gender and sexuality.
On Monday, Reuters reported, according to an official source and thelocal 24H Algerie news site, that screenings of Barbie in Algeria that began on July 21 have been halted due to claims that the film “promotes homosexuality and other Western deviances,” according to the official source, and violates the country’s religious and cultural values.
Screenings of Barbie have already been barred in Kuwait, even as the tentpole that stars Margot Robbie as the doll icon alongside Ryan Gosling’s Ken has launched on screens in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain after initial censorship threats and edits.
In Lebanon, which has traditionally been considered among the more liberal countries in the region regarding the LGBTQ community, culture minister Mohammad Mortada said that Barbie “promotes homosexuality” and “contradicts values of faith and morality” by diminishing the importance of the family unit.
Meanwhile, Barbie continues to bedazzle audiences closer to home. The Greta Gerwig-directed film grossed an estimated $33.7 million at the Aug. 11-13 box office in North America — the ninth-biggest fourth weekend of all time — and easily stayed No. 1 as it zoomed past the $500 million mark domestically and $657 million overseas for an impressive global total of $1.18 billion.
Gerwig now ranks as the highest-grossing female director of all time domestically after her movie skated past Frozen II, which was helmed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck.
Warner Bros. has not yet responded to The Hollywood Reporter’s request for comment.
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