‘Barbie’ to Be Released in Philippines Cinemas, But Map Scene May Be Blurred

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms,” the first part of Wuershan’s big-budget “Fengshen Trilogy,” topped the mainland China box office for the second weekend and expanded its week-on-week haul by 35%. ‘Barbie’ also showed signs of resilience in a market where it opened a week earlier in a disappointing fifth place. “Creation of the Gods I” grossed $57.6 million.

Whoopi Goldberg slammed right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro and U.S. Sen.

Barbie director Greta Gerwig has responded to the right-wing backlash against the new film.Various right-wing commentators have criticised the film around its release. Among them was Texas senator Ted Cruz, who described it as “Chinese communist propaganda” due to its depiction of a disputed region in the South China Sea (via Business Insider).Ben Shapiro, meanwhile, branded it “one of the worst movies I have ever seen” and “angry, feminist claptrap that alienates men from women” in his YouTube review.In a new interview with The New York Times, Gerwig was asked whether she expected “the degree to which rightwing pundits are bashing the movie as being ‘woke’ and burning their Barbies”.The director responded: “Certainly, there’s a lot of passion.

The Barbenheimer phenomenon just keeps going. To wit: there is so much energy happening at international box office turnstiles that Tuesday’s grosses on Warner Bros’ Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie and Universal’s Christopher Nolan opus Oppenheimer were down just 1% from Monday. The offshore gross through Tuesday on Barbie is now $258.5M with global at $472.6M.

Whoopi Goldberg is taking her love to the next level. The host of ABC's showed off her quirky footwear on Tuesday's broadcast, wearing white boots with a clear platform heel that was filled with decapitated Barbie doll heads.The style statement came as Goldberg, 67, was engaged in discussion about recent criticism of Greta Gerwig's blockbuster film, defending the movie against judgment from conservative columnist Ben Shapiro and Senator Ted Cruz.«It’s a movie!» she declared on the show. «It’s a movie about a doll!»She continued, «I thought y'all would be happy.

Whoopi Goldberg has hit back at criticism of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie from conservative commentators like Ted Cruz and Ben Shapiro.On Tuesday’s (July 25) episode of US chat show The View, a reel of various right-wing commentators criticising the film was shown. Among the clips was Texas senator Cruz, who described it as “Chinese communist propaganda” due to its depiction of a disputed region in the South China Sea (via Business Insider).Shapiro, meanwhile, branded it “one of the worst movies I have ever seen” and “angry, feminist claptrap that alienates men from women” in his YouTube review.In response to their comments, Goldberg said: “It’s a movie! It’s a movie about a doll!“I thought y’all would be happy. She has no genitalia, so there’s no sex involved.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Cineverse, the streaming and content distribution company previously known as Cinedigm, has acquired North American rights to the Chinese animated fantasy film “Warrior King.” Inspired by the legend of the hero and warrior, King Gesar, the film is directed by Lu Qi from a screenplay by Lu Wunan and Wang Yunsheng. Cineverse says that it will release the film in U.S. theaters Aug. 25, following its international theatrical debut.  The story of Gesar is considered one of Central Asia’s literary classics and was passed down in oral tradition for some 1,000 years, as well as literary, poetic and stage play versions. Its Tibetan iteration may now be the most prominent, It is certainly one of the longest, running to over 100 volumes and a million verses, according to some calculations.   

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Specialty distributor, Trinity CineAsia is releasing China’s summer blockbuster “Lost in the Stars” in the U.K and Ireland on some 30 screens from Friday. “I was fortunate to watch the film when it opened in China and once I saw it I just knew we had to have it,” said Cedric Behrel “‘Lost In The Stars’ is a very clever, uncanny thrill of a ride that harks back to classic Hitchcock and any noteworthy thriller since – the master himself had in fact once optioned the rights to the same story. We organized the fastest turnaround premiere known to man and we’ve been delighted by the reactions to the early previews. It epitomizes the best of what new Chinese cinema can bring to audiences.”

Barbie film to be shown in the country’s cinemas, but have asked Hollywood distributors to blur the lines on a child-like drawing of a world map, which allegedly shows China’s disputed maritime claims.The film about the Mattel doll – directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling – is set to open in the south-east Asian nation on July 19.The censors began examining Barbie last week after Vietnam reportedly banned the film over scenes featuring a map showing the so-called nine-dash line, which China uses to justify its claim to the South China Sea.Beijing claims territorial ownership over almost the entire South China Sea, despite rival claims from other south-east Asian countries, including the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.However, after “meticulous” scrutiny of the film, Philippine censors were satisfied that the “cartoonish map” did not depict the nine-dash line.“Instead, the map portrayed the route of the make-believe journey of Barbie from Barbie Land to the ’real world’, as an integral part of the story,” the censorship board said (via The Guardian).“Rest assured that the board has exhausted all possible resources in arriving at this decision as we have not hesitated in the past to sanction filmmakers/ producers/distributors for exhibiting the fictitious ’nine-dash line’ in their materials.”Despite being satisfied, the censors have still asked Hollywood studio Warner Bros. to “blur” the controversial lines on the map.

Barbie won’t be banned in the Philippines after all, following a week-long review by local censors and government officials, although a scene with a controversial map of the South China Sea might be blurred for release.

The upcoming “Barbie” movie has been approved a commercial release in the Philippines after the country conducted “two review sessions and consultations with relevant government agencies,” as per a statement from the country’s Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) via Variety. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Smash hit Japanese animation feature “The First Slam Dunk” is set to be the first film theatrically released by newly-launched Australian distribution and New Zealand licensing firm Sugoi Co. The company is headed by Tim Anderson, founder and former CEO of Madman Entertainment, the Australian indie with a strong leaning for Japanese content, and Sylvester “Sly” Ip. The pair made an announcement on Twitter and conducted a soft launch at the recent Anime Expo in Los Angeles. “The First Slam Dunk. Coming soon to cinemas across Australia. Follow us for full release and ticket info,” said Sugoi Co on Twitter.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Global streaming platform Netflix has removed the Chinese-produced drama series “Flight to You” from its service in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government banned the series on similar grounds to its objection to the upcoming Warner Bros. film “Barbie.” “As a result of the Vietnamese regulator banning elements of the series, we have removed ‘Flight to You’ from Netflix in Vietnam. It remains available on our service in other markets,” a Netflix spokesperson told Variety in an emailed statement. Both “Barbie” and “Flight to You” are understood to have included scenes that show a map of the South China Sea that depicts the “nine dash line” that represents China’s territorial claim to almost all of the area. Vietnam says that use of the map violates its sovereignty and that it will not tolerate the “nine dash line” in film and TV.

Far-right conservative preacher Kent Christmas asked God to “loose a Holy judgment” on the upcoming Barbie movie because it is “full of transsexual and transgender and homosexuality.”Posted on June 25, a now-viral video shows the Tennessee-based Christmas saying, “I curse in the name of the Lord this new Barbie movie that has been released full of transsexual and transgender and homosexuality in the name of the Lord. May God loose a judge, may God loose a Holy judgment.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kino Lorber has picked up North American rights to Pham Thien An’s debut feature “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell.” The Vietnamese drama appeared in Cannes’ Director’s Fortnight section and was winner of the Camera d’Or. The company plans a theatrical release as well as a digital and home video releases on all major platforms after the film makes multiple stops on the international film festival circuit. “The sudden death of his sister-in-law brings unexpected responsibilities to Thien (Le Phong Vu), who is reluctantly tasked with bringing his five-year-old nephew Dao to their countryside hometown. On the road, Thien is drawn into a search for his long missing older brother, haunted and spurred forward by a series of sublime dreams that reignite suppressed memories, forbidden desires, and specters of his own youth. What began as a journey home becomes a pilgrimage marked by visual splendor and mystical overtones, a quest for understanding and certainty in a Vietnam that seems unable to provide any clear answers. As Thien battles with his own existential question of what is worth living for, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell interrogates the persistence and complexity of faith, not only in the spiritual but in the delicate beauty of earthly existence,” said Kino Lorber by way of a long synopsis.

Vietnam’s decision to ban the movie has been making headlinesNow Warner Bros. is attempting to clarify its intention.The film, directed by Greta Gerwig, was set to hit theaters in the country on July 21, aligning with its big-screen release in most countries around the world.However, Vietnam announced the movie will not be released due to a scene that includes a map using the “nine-dash line” — a set of line segments that represents China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea — which Vietnam claims violates its sovereignty.But the studio rejects the need for controversy.“The map in Barbie Land is a child-like crayon drawing,” a spokesperson for the Warner Bros.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Of all the impressive skills Barbie has amassed in her 64 years as a working doll, who knew that cartography would be a focal point of her highly anticipated summer movie debut? But here we are. Trailers for the upcoming “Barbie,” from director Greta Gerwig and Warner Bros. Pictures, have led to the dissemination of a controversial map used in the film – one depicted in a scene with stars Margot Robbie and Kate McKinnon (known in the film as “Weird Barbie”) — and the studio is speaking up after days of international headlines. “The map in Barbie Land is a child-like crayon drawing,” a spokesperson for the Warner Bros. Film Group told Variety. “The doodles depict Barbie’s make-believe journey from Barbie Land to the ‘real world.’ It was not intended to make any type of statement.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Authorities in The Philippines are weighing a decision on whether to follow the lead taken by Vietnam and ban Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” movie. Vietnam on Monday announced that it will bar the film’s commercial release due to the movie’s depiction of a map that depicts the “nine dash line,” a disputed representation of China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. The Philippines, like Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia, have competing claims in the South China Sea and strongly refute China’s claim to nearly the entire maritime region. “If the invalidated 9-dash line was indeed depicted in the movie ‘Barbie,’ then it is incumbent upon the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to ban the same as it denigrates Philippine sovereignty,” said Philippines Senator Francis Tolentino, vice chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, according to local media reports.

Barbie because the film includes the “nine dash line map” that depicts islands in the South China Sea as being controlled by Beijing.Vi Kien Thanh, director general of the Vietnam Cinema Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, announced that Barbie will not be allowed to commercially screen in the nation, as ruled by the National Film Evaluation Council.“We do not grant license for the American movie ‘Barbie’ to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line,” the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper stated, citing Thanh (via Variety).The move follows Vietnam banning previous films including Uncharted and Abominable over the same issue.In 2016 the UN ruled unanimously against the validity of the “nine dash line” map, however China responded by saying that it doesn’t recognise the UN’s decision.Meanwhile, in other recent Barbie news, Margot Robbie has revealed the one request she made to director Greta Gerwig before filming the new movie.Set for release on July 21, Gerwig’s film stars Robbie in the titular role, with Ryan Gosling as Ken.Speaking about the film in an interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Robbie discussed how she fell in love with the character as a child when she was gifted a Barbie Dreamhouse for Christmas.Such was the impact the gift had on her, that she revealed she asked Gerwig to allow her to live out the real-life fantasy of the Dreamhouse in the film.“I’ll follow your vision. Whatever you want this Barbie movie to be, let’s do that,” she remembers telling the director.