“Dropped”: When asked about the movie on Monday, an employee for AMC Cinemas in Saudi Arabia said it had been.
On Monday, a Saudi official said that Disney must remove “LGBTQ references” from its new Marvel superhero movie before it can be shown in the country.
Disney has so far refused to make changes to the film “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” which is set to be released in early May. In the film, a lesbian character, America Chavez, refers to her “two moms,” says Nawaf Alsabhan, Saudi Arabia’s general supervisor of cinema classification.
In her case, she has two moms. ” The Middle East makes it hard to pass something like this.
“We sent it to the distributor, and the distributor sent it to Disney, and Disney told us that they are not willing to make the changes we asked for,” Alsabhan said.
But he said he didn’t believe reports that the movie had been banned.
Never. It isn’t. It can’t be banned. There’s no reason to stop the movie. It’s a simple change… So far, they haven’t agreed. But we haven’t shut the door. Still, he said: “We’re still at it.”
On Monday, when asked about the movie, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch, a worker for AMC Cinemas in Saudi Arabia said it had been “withdrawn.”
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz has made a number of social changes in Saudi Arabia. In late 2017, the country lifted a decades-old ban on all cinemas.
The country has since seen a lot of growth in movie ticket sales. Revenues in 2021 will be $238 million, up 95% from the previous year, Variety magazine reported in January.
If you are gay in Saudi Arabia, you could be sentenced to death. This is because the country is known for its strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law, which is the foundation of its entire judicial system.
Some people aren’t happy with “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” This isn’t the first time the Saudi government hasn’t liked a Marvel movie.
The Hollywood Reporter said last November that “Eternals,” which features a gay couple, also got edit requests from Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia that Disney didn’t want to make. The movie did not play in Saudi Arabia at all.
A law signed by the governor of the US state of Florida on Friday abolishes a law that has been in place for years that allowed Disney to run the city of Orlando, which is home to the “Disney World” theme park. This means that Disney can no longer run the city.
The company has been in a dispute with Florida officials since March, when a law was passed that made it illegal for schools to teach about sexual orientation. This was the most recent fight.
