Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Wonder Woman banned in yet another country — Tunisia

LOS ANGELES — After being banned in Lebanon and pulled from a festival in Algeria, global blockbuster Wonder Woman is facing a similar fate in Tunisia, where its release has been suspended ahead of its sneak premiere on Wednesday (June 7).

The Wonder Woman billboard is seen in Tel Aviv, Israel. Thanks to Gal Gadot's Israeli heritage, the film has been banned in Lebanon and Tunisia. Photo: AP

The Wonder Woman billboard is seen in Tel Aviv, Israel. Thanks to Gal Gadot's Israeli heritage, the film has been banned in Lebanon and Tunisia. Photo: AP

LOS ANGELES — After being banned in Lebanon and pulled from a festival in Algeria, global blockbuster Wonder Woman is facing a similar fate in Tunisia, where its release has been suspended ahead of its sneak premiere on Wednesday (June 7).

The superhero movie was set to open in at least two Tunisian cinemas on Thursday but was suspended following a lawsuit filed on Monday by the Al-Chaab party (People’s movement party) and the Tunisian Association of Young Lawyers, which called Wonder Woman’s Israel-born lead actress Gal Gadot a “champion Zionist”. The Tunisian courthouse decided to halt the release of Wonder Woman while it examines the lawsuit filed by Al-Chaab party, according to local reports.

The film was subsequently removed from the local ticket-booking website tiklik.tn, which serves all Tunisian cinemas.

Meanwhile, the Facebook page for the sneak premiere on Wednesday was also updated with a tag saying “suspendu” (“suspended”). The film was due to play in 3D, with subtitles, and had gathered 237 confirmed guests on the Facebook page.

As in Lebanon, where the film was banned on May 31, the Tunisian Association of Young Lawyers filed a lawsuit on the grounds that Gadot had publicly praised Israel’s military actions during the 2014 war in Gaza. The group also pointed out that the actress had served in the Israeli army.

Wonder Woman was also pulled from a festival in Algiers, where it was supposed to open on Sunday during the second edition of Nuits du Cinema, a festival organised to celebrate the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

It was unclear whether Gadot’s background was the issue. But Amine Idjer, head of press at MD Cine, which co-organises the Algerian festival, said the film was pulled because of “administrative issues linked to exhibition rights”.

A petition to boycott the film in Algeria called “Non! Pas en Algeria” (“No! Not in Algeria”) was launched last week after Lebanon’s ban was announced.

The film is still expected to open this week in other African and Middle Eastern countries such as Morocco, Egypt, and the Arab Emirates. VARIETY/REUTERS

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.