As Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” flies past $1 billion at the worldwide box office, the film has nabbed an official theatrical release in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Those are the two biggest regions in the Middle East in terms of overall theatrical box office. This follows a delay in several Middle Eastern countries from July 19 to Aug. 31.
That news spurred chatter that the Margot Robbie-Ryan Gosling blockbuster might get outright banned in the region. TheWrap has confirmed that it’s now set to open Thursday in Saudia Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The reason for the delay was reportedly related to LGBTQ-related narration and dialogue. While “Barbie” features several openly LGBTQ performers, such as Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Shipp, Scott Evans and Hari Nef, the PG-13 feature contains little-to-no explicit LGBTQ content.
A Warner Bros. rep didn’t immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment in terms of the cause of the initial delay or whether any changes to the film had been made in the respective territories.
Previous direct-to-consumer animated “Barbie” features have been banned in Saudi Arabia for portraying non-traditional gender roles. The property was first introduced in Saudi Arabia in the early 1990s, where it has remained a regular lightning rod for controversy. The dolls have been periodically banned in various Middle Eastern territories, but their popularity has rarely waned, even with local companies offering more demographically targeted alternatives like Fulla.
While Saudi Arabia has been presenting itself as a culturally emerging marketplace, the picture’s rather explicit anti-patriarchy messaging may have been a bigger challenge than any fleeting LGBTQ imagery or dialogue.
Either the initial rumors were ill-informed or the powers that be in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere decided that the calculus of letting the film play as intended was better for overall messaging, in terms of being a more progressive region than the blowback of not allowing its “subversive” messaging to reach paying moviegoers.
Most Middle Eastern nations will likely follow suit after Saudi Arabia’s decision to release the film. However, Kuwait, which is often considered the strictest when it comes to censorship, especially over LGBTQ references — banned the indie horror flick “Talk to Me” merely due to the presence of Zoe Terakes.
The performer, who plays a supporting role in the feature, identifies as nonbinary and trans-masculine. “Talk to Me” has been released in all other Middle Eastern markets uncut.
Still, even if “Barbie” never played in those countries, the commercial damage would have been minimal. “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” for example, earned around $30 million, or 1.6% of its $1.923 billion global total, in the marketplaces in contention.
