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Those of us based in the UAE, GCC and Middle East sat back and watched as many of the globe flocked to cinemas on July 21 to watch the highly anticipated Barbie movie.
While the movie had initially been slated for a July 21 release in the Middle East, it was announced that it had been pushed to August 31, 2023.
However, it seems now rumours are circulating that the Barbie movie may be completely banned in the region.
Is The Barbie Movie Banned In The Middle East?
The account, which boasts over 3.2 million followers, posted on July 30 a tweet in Arabic alleging the blockbuster starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling will not be released in the Middle East.
“The movie Barbie will not be shown in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain,” the post reads.
رسميًا:
فيلم “باربي” لن يتم عرضه في السعودية، والكويت وقطر والإمارات ومصر والبحرين.#Barbie pic.twitter.com/Qmv4LG2Yyz
— فيلم و قصة (@MovSto) July 30, 2023
However, no official announcement has been made as of yet and on the official VOX Cinemas website, it still states the Barbie movie will be released on August 31.
Why would the barbie movie be banned?
Many speculate, that the movie might be violating censorship guidelines, while some theorise that it could be to give more screen time for movies like Mission Impossible. Movies like Disney and Pixar’s Lightyear, Sony’s Spiderman: Across The Spider-Verse and Scream VI, were all banned in the Middle East for the same reason.
The #Barbie movie will most probably get banned in the Middle East, the new trend for banning a movie is pushing the release date closer to the global VOD release date then ban it, we saw this happen to Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse and recently Asteroid City.
The reason… pic.twitter.com/7QUECDZTqo
— Moey Shawash (@Moeys) July 5, 2023
Vietnam banned the movie due to the politically sensitive issue of the nine-dash line and countries like the Philippines threatened to follow.
Read More: This Giant Barbie Stands Nearly As Tall As Dubai’s Burj Khalifa
