The Barbie film will not be shown in Vietnam’s cinemas because it shows an “offending” map of the disputed South China Sea territory.
The highly anticipated film starring Margot Robbie as the iconic doll, Barbie was set to be released on July 21 in the southeast Asian country, in line with its international cinematic debut.
However, it was announced by Vietnam’s state media on Monday that the film has been pulled because a scene shows a map that uses the much-disputed “nine-dash line”.
The U-shaped line is on Chinese maps and represents areas that China has claimed as belonging to it. However, the area claimed as Chinese territory includes a significant amount of area that Vietnam considers its own.
The dispute has been a long-standing one between the two countries, while Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, and Malaysia join Vietnam in also making claims to parts of the South China sea.
The Vietnamese state-run newspaper Tuoi Tre said that due to the Barbie film’s use of a map depicting this territorial shape, it will no longer be released in the country.
According to Reuters, Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Department of Cinema in Vietnam, was quoted in the publication saying: “We do not grant licence for the American movie Barbie to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line.”
The Evening Standard has reached out to Warner Bros, for comment.
Last year, Sony’s action movie Uncharted was barred in Vietnam for the same reason.
DreamWorks animated film Abominable suffered the same fate in 2019, while Netflix also removed an Australian spy drama series, Pine Gap, from their streaming services there in 2021.
Despite the setback, the Barbie movie is expected to be a box office smash and is predicted to be one of the biggest films of the year globally.
Robbie, will join Ryan Gosling, who plays Barbie’s companion Ken, at the film’s many forthcoming global premieres, including one in London next month.
The pair will also be joined on the red-carpet by co-satrs Issa Rae, America Ferrera, Emma Mackey, Ncuti Gatwa, and Dua Lipa
The trailer for the upcoming film, states: “If you love Barbie, this movie is for you. If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you.”
Robbie added: “If you feel indifferent about Barbie or haven’t thought about Barbie in years, this movie is also for you.”
