Barbie Movie Gets Banned in Algeria

The Barbie movie may be a billion-dollar box office success story, but the country of Algeria won’t be contributing any more money to Warner Bros.’ coiffeurs. Barbie has been pulled from theaters in Algeria, due to the film encouraging “damaging morals” according to authorities. News of the ban started on Algeria’s private news site 24H Algérie, before going wider. 

Barbie has been playing for three weeks in Algeria, attracting estimated tens of thousands of viewers, before the culture ministry requested that the film be pulled. While no official reason flor the decision was given, an “official source” for Reuters claims that the Algerian culture ministry was not happy with Barbie’s LBTQ+ representation. Officials apparently thought that Barbie’s storyline was going to “promote homosexuality and did not comply with Algeria’s religious and cultural beliefs”. 

Barbie has had a bumpy road to release in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region. Kuwait and Lebanon have both banned Barbie, because of the same reasons that Algeria is. Kuwait claimed that Barbie’s story is “carrying ideas that encourage unacceptable behavior and distort society’s values,” while Lebanon said that the film “promotes homosexuality” and “Contradicts values of faith and morality” by diminishing the importance of the family unit. Pakistan sent the movie off to Dubai for a censorship review, before allowing Barbie to shown in the province. l

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates reportedly let Barbie release in theaters, given that certain key edits were made. Barbie also had a tough time in certain Asian markets, after the film sparked backlash for a scene depicting the infamous nine-dash line drawn by the Chinese government – which sparked outrage in Vietnam and caused the Phillippines to edit the scene. 

While Barbie may be hitting roadblocks in some parts of the world, it hasn’t done anything to stop the film’s overall momentum at the worldwide box office. Barbie hit $1 billion in just 17 days of release, and it is shooting up the charts to become one of Warner Bros.’ most successful film releases, ever. 

What is the Barbie Movie About?

In Barbie, to live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken. 

From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig comes Barbie, which hit theaters on July 21st. Barbie stars Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, alongside America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell. The film also stars Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Dua Lipa and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren. Gerwig directed Barbie from a screenplay by Gerwig & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach, based on Barbie by Mattel. 

Barbie is now in theaters. 

Via: Deadline