Wonder Woman 2017 poster, copyrighted material, reproduced here under US Fair Use doctrine
Did you know that Wonder Woman (2017) is banned in countries belonging to the Arab League?
(The 22 members of the Arab League are Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.)
The movie is banned because it stars Israeli actress Gal Gadot, who served in the Israeli army. The 1959 blockbuster Ben Hur is also banned in those countries for a similar reason — because actress Haya Haraheet was Israeli.
Here's a brief list of others I have seen and where they are banned.
- Ben Hur (1959) (Charlton Heston) Arab League, China,
- Back to the Future (1985) (Michael J Fox) China
- A Clockwork Orange (1971) (Malcolm McDowell) North Korea,
- The Da Vinci Code (2006) (Tom Hanks) China, Egypt, Jordon, Lebanon, Pakistan, Samoa, Solomon Islands
- District 9 (2009) (Sharlto Copley) Nigeria
- Funny Girl (1968) (Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif) Egypt
- God forgives, I don't! (1972) (Terrence Hill, Bud Spencer) Chile
- The Great Dictator (1940) (Charlie Chaplain) Argentina and Paraguay.
- Justice League (2017) Lebanon
- The King and I (1956) (Yul Brynner) Thailand
- The Kingdom (2007) (Jamie Foxx) Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
- Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) (Angelina Jolie) China
- Last Tango in Paris (1972) (Marlon Brando) Argentina, Chile, Italy, North Korea, and Portugal.
- The Last Temptation of Christ (1987) (Willem Dafoe) Argentina, Chile, Israel, Mexico, Philippines, Turkey
- Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) Chile, Malaysia,
- Pretty Baby (1978) (Brooke Shields) Argentina
- Pulp Fiction (1993) (John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson) Malaysia
- Rambo (2008) (Sylvester Stallone) Myanmar
- Schindler's List (1993) (Liam Neeson) Indonesia, Malaysia
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) (Marilyn Burns) Brazil
- The Tin Drum (1980) (David Bennent) Canada
- The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) (Leonardo di Caprio) Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, Uganda
- 300 (2006) (Gerard Butler) Iran
An honourable mention should go to Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) (Dakota Johnson) banned in Cambodia, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Zimbabwe. I've not seen it though. Maybe someday...
