‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ denied release in United Arab Emirates reportedly due to ‘Protect Trans Lives’ poster

Jordan Hoffman
·2 min read
4

The new animated superhero picture “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” has already caught over $400 million in worldwide grosses in its web, and it has a 96-percent approval rating on ye olde Tomatometer. Everybody loves Miles Morales and the myriad parallel dimension versions of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Well, everybody except the censors in the United Arab Emirates.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, the film – which has so delighted fans on these shores that they are voluntarily eating weird red hamburgers – won’t score a release in U.A.E., meaning movie-goers in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah will not see Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Punk, or Spider-Man India anytime soon. The reason, as per THR, is the “blink-and-you-miss-it protect trans lives poster featured in the background of one frame.”

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Though perceived to be among the most modern of the Arab states, homosexuality is, indeed, technically outlawed in the U.A.E. No one has been prosecuted on such grounds since 2015, however, individuals can still be issued citations for public indecency for transgressions like public kissing or cross-dressing. 

Some Middle Eastern and Gulf states have loosened the restrictions on imported films in recent years, but still demand that the content adheres to “local customs and values,” particularly with titles geared toward children. Recently, Disney saw its films “Onward,” “Lightyear,” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” banned for similarly perceived issues in these markets, and sometimes China. Disney, to its credit, stood its ground and refused to make specific cuts to “Doctor Strange” and “Lightyear” to appease the Chinese censors, cutting themselves off from a far more significant revenue stream than the U.A.E. China also limits the number of Hollywood films that it imports each year. “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” for example, never played in China, despite its $1.9 billion worldwide gross.

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