(Algiers) Algeria has withdrawn the film Barbie from its cinemas for “attacking morality”, after it was broadcast for more than two weeks, several media in this Maghreb country said.
According to the online news site 24H Algérie, which cites “well-informed sources”, the film was de-scheduled from all theaters in the country for “attacking morality”.
On Sunday, theater owners changed the schedules by removing Greta Gerwig’s film, without giving reasons.
The distributor also announced the deprogramming of the film, released on July 19 in Algeria, without details.
“Algeria ended up being won over by the Barbie controversy because of scenes intended for an adult audience” and allusions to homosexuality, explained the TSA news site, also assuring that the film had been “quietly removed from theaters”.
Nearly 48 hours after its deprogramming, the Algerian Ministry of Culture, which usually announces film bans specifying the reasons, is still silent.
Last Thursday, Kuwait banned it for “undermining public morals”.
The day before, Lebanon’s culture ministry said it had called for it to be banned, saying it was “promoting homosexuality”, amid growing anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other) rhetoric in the country. one of the most liberal countries in the Middle East.
Barbie is still not airing in Qatar, which however has not made any official announcement about it.
Almost a month after its release, the Barbie movie is still leading the North American box office and has surpassed $1 billion at the global box office.
Already a cultural phenomenon, the film, which was the subject of an intense marketing campaign, led to a wave of shades of pink in the world: clothes, various accessories, roller skates, etc.
The release of Barbie also caused a surge in sales of dolls from the American group Mattel.