UAE bans new “Spider-Man” movie over phrase in one scene

After widespread controversy in recent days over its tagline “to protect transgender people,” “Spider-Man: Spider-Verse” will not be screened in the UAE due to lack of approval from censors, Variety magazine reported. A scene in the film.

Sources told the press on Thursday that the phrase, which appeared on a banner in the background of a scene, could be one of the reasons for preventing the film from being shown.

The ban comes a week before the Sony film’s scheduled release on June 22.

And last year the Gulf state saw another ban on the animated film “Light Year” due to content related to the LGBT community, as the film featured a kissing scene between two women.

Other countries banned the film, which is part of the “Toy Story” series, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Malaysia.

The decision by the UAE authorities regarding the movie “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” comes after the huge success of the previous version of the movie “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”, which earned a 1.7. million dollars in the region.

Although the film’s censorship requirements are similar to those of the UAE, it is not known whether Saudi Arabia will follow the same procedure.

By the end of 2021, the United Arab Emirates has announced that movies showing in cinemas will no longer be censored.

The Media Regulation Office of the UAE Ministry of Culture, via its Twitter account, said, “Age category (21+) category will be added to cinematographic films”.

The office added, “According to this classification, movies will be screened in theaters according to their international version, and they will be classified based on the quality of the country’s media content.”

However, in light of the controversy over the new film on social media, the Emirates Media Council on Monday confirmed on its Twitter account that “we will not allow the circulation or publication of content against values ​​and principles”. Standards of media content in force in the UAE and the country.”