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Warner Bros’ upcoming fantasy-comedy and highly-anticipated film “Barbie” has been banned from screening in Vietnam, according to VnExpress and state-run media Tuoi Tre.

On Jul. 3, the director of Vietnam’s cinema department, Vi Kien Thanh, said that the government barred the movie’s screening for showing a scene that featured a map with China’s “nine-dash line” in the South China Sea.

"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," he stated, according to a translation by Reuters.

The decision was made after the country's Film Appraisal and Classification Council reviewed the film, which was slated to be screened on Jul. 21.

Its showtimes have also been removed from the websites of domestic cinemas.

"Barbie", starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and directed by Greta Gerwig, is the first live-action Barbie film in the franchise's history.

Highly contested

China has disputes with the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Brunei in the resource-rich South China Sea. There are some overlapping claims in some cases.

Approximately US$3.4 trillion worth (S$4.7 trillion) of international shipping trade is estimated to pass through the geo-strategic sea annually.

China has laid claim to 90 per cent of the South China Sea via its "nine-dash line", which includes strips that Vietnam regards as its continental shelf, according to Reuters.

This “nine-dash line” was rejected at a ruling at The Hague in 2016, though China has opposed and refused to acknowledge it, The Guardian reported.

Not the first time

In March 2022, American action-adventure film “Uncharted” - starring Tom Holland - was banned from Vietnamese cinemas for also featuring the “nine-dash line”, Tuoi Tre reported.

In late 2019, local cinema chain CGV was fined 170 million VND (S$9,700) by Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for screening computer-animated film “Abominable” as it had a similar map scene, according to VnExpress.

The cartoon was initially granted a screening license and screened for 10 days before being found to contain the scene in question.

Other than movies, Netflix Vietnam has also removed content from “Pine Gap” and “Put Your Head on my Shoulder” for similar reasons.

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Top images via YouTube/Warner Bros. Pictures & Wikipedia