Beauty and the Beast release postponed, pending internal review in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR — Disney’s live action remake of a classic fairy tale has been removed from cinema listings and postponed indefinitely pending an “internal review” by film distributor The Walt Disney (Malaysia).

According to The Star Online, Walt Disney (Malaysia) confirmed that Beauty and the Beast which was due to be released this Thursday (March 16) has been postponed, but gave no explanation as to the reason behind this decision.

The highly-anticipated Disney movie has already garnered controversy internationally after director Bill Condon told UK magazine Attitude that the character of Le Fou, played by Josh Gad, would have a “nice exclusively gay moment” in the movie.

Many Malaysians have begun flooding Walt Disney’s (Malaysia) Facebook and Twitter accounts with queries regarding the postponement.

Local cinema TGV has already stopped advanced ticket purchases for the March 16 premiere, but have not given a reason as to why it has done so.

“@nanypanini Hi, at the moment, we have stopped advance purchase for this movie. Stay tuned at our website for more updates! Thanks,” it said on Twitter to a question by a customer on why the cinema chain had stopped advance purchases for the movie.

Golden Screens Cinema (GSC), said it has yet to hear of any official news regarding the postponement of the movie.

“@chik_yaahhh Hi, setakat ini kami tidak menerima apa2 info berkaitan hal tersebut. Terima kasih,” it said in a Twitter reply. (Translated: Hi, as of now, we have not received any information on the matter).

Disney Malaysia has yet to reply to Malay Mail Online’s queries. MALAY MAIL ONLINE