Movies get banned in certain countries all the time – usually for the same sort of reasons – but waiting until a feature has been playing for over three weeks before deciding that you don’t want it in theaters anymore is a strange decision if ever there was one, with Barbie having been given the boot in Algeria.
Of course, it’s not exactly going to harm Greta Gerwig’s chances of continuing her unstoppable box office domination given that her Mattel masterpiece is now the highest-grossing film in the history of Warner Bros. with $1.2 billion and counting in the bank, and it’s not even close to being done yet.
Nonetheless, having already been exiled from several nations on account of its potentially damaging influences on impressionable audiences, Algeria’s cultural ministry has asked local cinemas to withdraw Barbie from public viewing immediately, offering that it doesn’t comply with its religious and cultural beliefs.
Ironically, local news outlet 24H Algérie made a point of noting that multiplexes were filled to bursting point in the cities of Algiers, Oran, and Constantine, so it’s not as if Barbie was a bomb that nobody was going to mind seeing yanked from right in front of them, with “damaging morals” cited as the number one driving force behind its exile.
Screenings had been sold out every day, too, so you’ve got to wonder if the fact it was proving so rampagingly popular forced the government’s hand into action, lest the populace find themselves wondering that maybe they really are Kenough after all.
