It’s important to distinguish between controversial and banned movies. One of them raises eyebrows, while the other is prohibited by the government itself. The banned movies are notorious for being restricted for a variety of reasons. Some are prohibited for political reasons, others — due to the period they came out in. But this doesn’t mean that a banned movie is horrible.
There are a few examples of movies that dominated some box offices but got banned in others. Deadpool (2016) might have dominated the market in the US, but it is one of the movies banned in China for a good reason — violence. Other times, movies get prohibited for political reasons, and the perfect example is Battleship Potemkin (1925), one of the few movies banned due to the revolutionary messages it sends. Despite their flaws and hidden messages, they are still rated pretty high in the eyes of the audience.
The movies that are banned are not always bad — there are some good ones too. So, if you are out searching for the next film to watch, we have compiled some banned motion pictures in the list below. If the movie caught your attention, leave an upvote on it. Otherwise, if you have an opinion on a motion picture of your own, share it in the comments below.
#1 2012 (North Korea)
2009 | 2h 38m | Directed by Roland Emmerich
Starring John Cusack, Thandiwe Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor
2012 played with the idea of the collapse of society due to the apocalypse, but the reason why it got banned in North Korea is quite different and strange. In 2012, Kim Il Sung was supposed to turn 100 years old, and in the same year, North Korea wanted to declare to the world that it was a “world superpower.”
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#2 Deadpool (China)
2016 | 1h 48m | Directed by Tim Miller
Starring Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin and T.J. Miller
Upon the movie’s release, it caught the attention of the US and many Western audiences, but it didn’t do so in Asia. China blocked the film from being shown due to the large amount of violence and graphic language present in the movie. The movie did appear at the Beijing Film Festival, but only for a limited time.
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#3 A Clockwork Orange (South Korea, Some Parts In Canada And UK)
1971 | 2h 16m | Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Starring Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee and Michael Bates
Contrary to popular belief, Stanley Kubrick’s dark fantasy got withdrawn from theaters at the director’s request. Without a doubt, the extremely violent moments are disturbing, and Kubrick and his family received death threats for this, which is what kept the movie off British theaters. South Korea and parts of Canada banned the film on their own.
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#4 Battleship Potemkin (USA, France, UK)
1925 | 1h 06m | Directed by Sergei Eisenstein
Starring Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barskiy and Grigoriy Aleksandrov
Nothing raises eyebrows, on the governmental level, like a movie with revolutionary characters and ideas. Released in 1925, between the two world wars, this movie came from the Soviet Union and got banned in several countries, some of which later lifted the restrictions due to the movie’s value for the cinema world.
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#5 Zoolander (Singapore And Malaysia)
2001 | 1h 30m | Directed by Ben Stiller
Starring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Christine Taylor
Even the great combo of Ben Stiller, Jerry Stiller, and Owen Wilson couldn’t avoid the ban hammer. Due to its plot centering on the main character getting manipulated into trying to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia, the movie got naturally banned in several Asian countries. Malaysia banned it first, and Singapore followed soon after.
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#6 Wonder Woman (Lebanon, Algeria, Jordan And Tunisia)
2017 | 2h 21m | Directed by Patty Jenkins
Starring Gal Gadot, Chris Pine and Robin Wright
Sometimes, even a star’s nationality can impact the movie’s release. Gal Gadot, an Israeli actress, was not very liked in the Arab nations due to the strained relationship with Israel. Several Arab and Muslim countries banned the movie from their theaters, sometimes hours before the screening was about to start.
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#7 Last Tango In Paris (Argentina, Italy, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, And Venezuela)
1972 | 2h 09m | Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider and Maria Michi
Released in the same year as the legendary The Godfather, this one attracted less favorable attention. While the movie was good, the sexual content shown in it is much more controversial in the eyes of the censors. Some nations banned the movie entirely due to the lustful content shown on screen.
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#8 The Simpsons Movie (Myanmar)
2007 | 1h 27m | Directed by David Silverman
Starring Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner and Nancy Cartwright
Even the most famous cartoon family can’t hide from restrictions that a government can impose. The Simpsons Movie got banned in Myanmar due to the film using a lot of yellow and red colors, the same ones that the rebel army uses.
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#9 Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (China)
2021 | 2h 12m | Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton
Starring Simu Liu, Awkwafina and Tony Leung Chiu-wai
The movie got quite a lot of praise from liberal Asian countries. But ironically, the biggest Asian market didn’t allow this movie to appear in the nation’s theaters. Due to some things said in a 2017 interview, China banned the movie. Marvel, however, still thinks the view of the government will change.
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#10 The Dark Knight (China)
2008 | 2h 32m | Directed by Christopher Nolan
Starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart
Having several A-list actors on the screen, The Dark Knight is still one of the best superhero movies ever! Sadly, not everyone got to experience this movie in theaters. Due to some sensitive scenes and the pre-release requirements from the government, the audience in China didn’t get the chance to see this movie on the big screen.
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#11 Borat (Kazakhstan And In Almost All Arab Countries)
2006 | 1h 24m | Directed by Larry Charles
Starring Sacha Baron Cohen, Ken Davitian and Luenell
Sometimes, a character alone can anger the governments of the world. With the movie focused on a fictional Kazakh journalist, the people in Kazakhstan were quite angry. The movie portrayed them to be quite antisemitic and vile. Thus, the film got banned in Kazakhstan and some Arab nations.
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#12 Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (Saudi Arabia And Kuwait)
2022 | 2h 06m | Directed by Sam Raimi
Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen and Chiwetel Ejiofor
Even talking about controversial topics can land some movies in some hot water. America Chavez, one of the few lesbian characters in the Marvel universe, was shown in a different light in the latest Doctor Strange movie. In the film, instead of being a lesbian herself, she had two mothers. It was enough to get the movie banned in some countries.
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#13 The Hunger Games (Vietnam, Thailand And India)
2012 | 2h 22m | Directed by Gary Ross
Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth
What’s so controversial about teenage people fighting for their lives (and districts) and running around a hostile environment? Well, some governments found the movie too much for their citizens. Since the film had some hints of the Vietnam war, the nation of Vietnam banned the movie, citing the violence present.
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#14 Suicide Squad (China)
2016 | 2h 03m | Directed by David Ayer
Starring Will Smith, Jared Leto and Margot Robbie
China is not one to allow movies with massive amounts of violence to be shown in their cinema theaters, no matter how good (or bad) the film is. With this movie glorifying crime, violence, and many more not-so-nice things, China banned the movie, even when the studio suggested cutting some scenes out.
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#15 The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Vietnam)
2011 | 2h 38m | Directed by David Fincher
Starring Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara and Christopher Plummer
Like in the novel, this movie has some sensitive scenes that might raise some eyebrows. Upon its release, the movie was banned in the nation of Vietnam by the Vietnamese National Film Board. The reason is that Sony Pictures didn’t meet the requirements of cutting out some sensitive scenes.
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#16 Onward (Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, And Saudi Arabia)
2020 | 1h 42m | Directed by Dan Scanlon
Starring Tom Holland, Chris Pratt and Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Lena Waithe voices a cyclops officer in the Pixar picture Onward. With her one spoken line, she uses the well-known LGBT slogan, “It gets better.” In Russia, the scene with the line was deleted to meet the censorship requirements, while Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia banned the film entirely.
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#17 The Matrix Reloaded (Egypt)
2003 | 2h 18m | Directed by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski
Starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss
There are a lot of philosophical and theological concepts in this movie that revolve around robots that enslave humans. The main intention was to engage the viewer so that they could decipher them. Sadly, some of these concepts were too religious, and Egypt banned the movie for that reason.
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#18 The Wolf Of Wall Street (Most Of Africa, Singapore And Nepal)
2013 | 3h 00m | Directed by Martin Scorsese
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie
If you have ever seen this movie, you might have noticed the amount of explicit sexual content and curse words present. So it’s not a wonder why it got banned in some Asian countries, Singapore and Nepal. The first country to restrict it, Kenya, cited the shown content as the reason for the ban.
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#19 Barney’s Great Adventure (Malaysia)
1998 | 1h 16m | Directed by Steve Gomer
Starring George Hearn, Shirley Douglas and Trevor Morgan
Not everyone is willing to allow their citizens to watch the adventures of the famous pink dinosaur — Barney. Some governments found the catchy tunes and colorful characters too much for their growing populations. Malaysia banned the Barney movie as it was “unacceptable” for the children.
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#20 There Is No Evil (Iran)
2020 | 2h 31m | Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof
Starring Zhila Shahi, Baran Rasoulof and Mohammad Seddighimehr
Sometimes, banning a movie is not enough for a nation — they can decide to take further action. This movie, which touches upon the themes of executions and capital punishment in Iran, was banned by the Iranian government. Adding more salt to the wound, the director of the movie was also arrested and prohibited from filming in the nation.
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#21 The Interview (Russia, North Korea)
2014 | 1h 52m | Directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen
Starring James Franco, Seth Rogen and Randall Park
When you set your movie’s action in North Korea and make fun of the country’s leader, you know that some governments will not be so pleased with the finished product. Due to the controversial content in the movie, it got banned in several nations, including North Korea and Russia.
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#22 The Da Vinci Code (Solomon Islands, Syria, Belarus, Lebanon, Jordan, Manila, Some Parts Of India, And The Vatican)
2006 | 2h 29m | Directed by Ron Howard
Starring Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou and Jean Reno
To some, The Da Vinci Code was a bit more controversial in its Christian themes, so it got banned. Several religious organizations objected to the ridiculous international thriller based on the best-selling Dan Brown book series. The harshest words came from the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands.
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#23 Fifty Shades Of Grey (Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Kenya, UAE, Papua New Guinea And Cambodia)
2015 | 2h 05m | Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson
Starring Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan and Jennifer Ehle
Since the movie revolves around erotic content, it’s not a wonder why it got banned in the more conservative nations. The majority of the bans came from Asian and African countries. The main reason behind the restrictions was the use of sexual and violent content in the course of the movie.
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#24 Brokeback Mountain (UAE, China)
2005 | 2h 14m | Directed by Ang Lee
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams
When you have two gay cowboys in your movie, there is a guarantee that someone will get angry about it. While the movie got met with positive words from the critics, no one was stopping nations from banning it. UAE banned the film due to the depiction of two gay men, and China followed them for “different” reasons.
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#25 Kingsman: The Golden Circle (Cambodia)
2017 | 2h 21m | Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Starring Taron Egerton, Colin Firth and Mark Strong
Cambodia has outlawed the satirical hit Kingsman: The Golden Circle because it portrayed the nation as a haven for criminals. According to the Cambodian Ministry of Culture, the movie was improper. They were especially troubled by the depiction of a Cambodian temple as a location where illegal substances were produced.
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#26 Maniac (New Zealand)
2012 | 1h 29m | Directed by Franck Khalfoun
Starring Elijah Wood, Nora Arnezeder and America Olivo
New Zealand was not ready to see their beloved Frodo Baggins and the actor behind him, Elijah Wood, in a role of a serial killer. To not taint the image created, New Zealand banned Maniac from being shown in the nation, citing that the movie and the violence in it weren’t good for the wider public.
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#27 South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Several Countries In Asia And The Middle East)
1999 | 1h 21m | Directed by Trey Parker
Starring Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Mary Kay Bergman
The small town in the rocky mountains in Colorado is not a stranger when it comes to controversial reactions. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, a play on words, is banned in several Asian and Middle East nations. One of the reasons is that Saddam and Satan, a gay couple, are shown in the movie.
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#28 Bruno (Ukraine)
2009 | 1h 21m | Directed by Larry Charles
Starring Sacha Baron Cohen, Gustaf Hammarsten and Clifford Bañagale
The outrageous fashion journalist Bruno, created by Sacha Baron Cohen, was an offshoot of Da Ali G Show. He was already a very radical personality, but the film version promoted several concepts that the Ukrainian censors found objectionable. Brüno got banned because of its “homosexual overtones.”
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#29 District 9 (Nigeria)
2009 | 1h 52m | Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Starring Sharlto Copley, David James and Jason Cope
District 9, an alien invasion movie with modest beginnings that became a worldwide blockbuster, managed to anger Nigerians. In the film, there are scenes where Nigerian immigrants are visibly consuming extraterrestrial flesh or engaging in sexual activity with the monsters. It’s quite a valid reason for Nigeria to ban the movie.
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#30 The Evil Dead (Singapore)
1981 | 1h 25m | Directed by Sam Raimi
Starring Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss and Richard DeManincor
As far as legendary horror movies of the ‘80s — this one might be the most remembered. Coming from the mind of Sam Raimi, this movie won the audiences of the United States, but in Singapore, this movie got banned entirely. The main reason is that the film is too grotesque for the audience.
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#31 Eternals (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, And Qatar)
2021 | 2h 36m | Directed by Chloé Zhao
Starring Gemma Chan, Richard Madden and Angelina Jolie
Not every country was willing to show a Marvel movie in their nation’s theaters. While European and US audiences lined up to watch the film one after another, some Arab countries were not so willing to screen the movie. The reason is that in the film, there were several scenes where gay couples were present.
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#32 Django Unchained (China)
2012 | 2h 45m | Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio
According to the specifications imposed by the China Film Group Corporation, movie theaters claimed they couldn’t show the movie for “technical” reasons. But, the technological difficulties were probably secondary to the Chinese censors’ strong concerns over the violence depicted in the movie.
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#33 Milk (Samoa)
2008 | 2h 08m | Directed by Gus Van Sant
Starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin and Emile Hirsch
The Oscar-winning Harvey Milk movie, starring Sean Penn, is heartbreaking and inspirational. Yet, Samoan citizens didn’t get to watch it in a theater. The film got the ban hammer from Samoan Censor Board for being improper and inconsistent with Christian values and Samoan culture.
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#34 The Departed (China)
2006 | 2h 31m | Directed by Martin Scorsese
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson
In the movie, Jack Nicholson’s character encounters spies working for Chinese officials, who trade a bag full of cash for cutting-edge computer chip technology used for nuclear armament. For this reason, the movie was never shown in China, as it portrays the nation in a not-so-nice light.
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#35 The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence (New Zealand And Australia)
2011 | 1h 31m | Directed by Tom Six
Starring Laurence R. Harvey, Ashlynn Yennie and Maddi Black
This movie franchise is not a stranger to gross and controversial reactions. The second movie of the series received a lot of hate from critics and audience members. More brutal than the first one, this movie got banned in Australia due to the disgusting content so visibly shown. New Zealand quickly followed too.
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#36 Captain Marvel (Pakistan)
2019 | 2h 03m | Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck
Starring Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn
Wars and other tensions can hinder a movie’s release, especially if the issue is linked politically. This movie, another entry to the Marvel cinematic franchise, was released at quite a not-so-interesting time. India-Pakistan skirmishes were happening, and Disney India decided to ban the movie from being shown in Pakistan.
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#37 Daredevil (Malaysia)
2003 | 1h 43m | Directed by Mark Steven Johnson
Starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner and Colin Farrell
With all the stunts and running Daredevil does in the movie, even that wasn’t enough for him to avoid the ban hammer of national ministries. The nation of Malaysia and the Film Censorship Board of Malaysia banned the movie from being shown on the screens of theaters, citing the violence and “devil” in the name of the title as a reason for the restriction.
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#38 Justice League (Lebanon)
2017 | 2h 00m | Directed by Zack Snyder
Starring Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa
This movie became a target of banning due to the nationality of one of the stars. Due to Gal Gadot being from Israel, the star was the subject of many controversial takes coming from the Arab nations. Due to this political mess, Lebanon banned the movie from their theaters, citing nationality as a reason.
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#39 Child 44 (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, And Kyrgyzstan)
2015 | 2h 17m | Directed by Daniel Espinosa
Starring Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Noomi Rapace
Based on a book of the same name, the movie focuses on the investigation of a serial killer in the Soviet Union. Due to this fact, Russia, the sequel to the Soviet Union, banned the movie from being shown. Alongside Russia, other former Soviet Union Republics, like Belarus, also banned the movie.
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#40 Camp X-Ray (Cuba)
2014 | 1h 57m | Directed by Peter Sattler
Starring Kristen Stewart, Payman Maadi and Lane Garrison
Based on the real place of Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, the movie focuses on the events that followed the September 11 attacks. Sadly, due to the location and nature of the movie, it was banned in the nation of Cuba. The main reason is that the US is still leasing Guantanamo bay from Cuba.
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#41 Noah (UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, And Indonesia)
2014 | 2h 18m | Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly and Anthony Hopkins
Religion is a very touchy subject, especially in the more conservative nations. Due to Noah being a more Christian religious character, the movie didn’t account for the Islamic audience members. It got banned in several Arab and Muslim nations due to the depiction of religious prophets.
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#42 I Spit On Your Grave (Australia, Canada, Germany, And Iceland)
1978 | 1h 41m | Directed by Meir Zarchi
Starring Camille Keaton, Eron Tabor and Richard Pace
The extreme nature of its content has led to the restriction of this film in several nations. This movie got prohibited in Iceland because of the violence it included, but it got banned in Australia, Germany, and Canada for other reasons. Nonetheless, it was shown in a few Canadian cities, but only for a limited time.
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#43 Beauty And The Beast (Kuwait)
2017 | 2h 09m | Directed by Bill Condon
Starring Emma Watson, Dan Stevens and Luke Evans
The animated version of this movie might have broken some ground in the good old days, but its live-action remake created earthquakes these days. Due to having one of the “first” gay characters in its lineup, Kuwait went ahead and banned the movie from being shown in their theaters, even though he only appeared for a second.
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#44 West Side Story (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, And The UAE)
2021 | 2h 36m | Directed by Steven Spielberg
Starring Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose
Even the great filmmaker Steven Spielberg is not a stranger to getting some movies banned from theaters nationwide. When he remade West Side Story, he changed one character to be trans, and the role was played by Iris Menas, an actor who is nonbinary. Due to this change, the movie got banned in some Arab nations.
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#45 Sex And The City 2 (UAE And Vietnam)
2010 | 2h 26m | Directed by Michael Patrick King
Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon
While the movies based on the series of the same name were quite popular in Western countries, in the more conservative and religious nations, like the United Arab Emirates, the sequel got banned due to it spreading “anti-Muslim” messages. Vietnam, on the other hand, banned the movie for contradicting the cultural values of the nation.
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#46 Persepolis (Iran)
2007 | 1h 36m | Directed by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi
Starring Chiara Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve
Movies have to be careful when it comes to depicting historical events — especially the ones that happened not too long ago. With this animated movie focusing on an Iranian girl during the Iranian Revolution of 1978 — 1979, it’s not a wonder why it was banned. While Iran is still holding the prohibition, Lebanon did lift its ban.
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#47 The Yin-Yang Master: Dream Of Eternity (China)
2020 | 2h 12m | Directed by Jingming Guo
Starring Mark Chao, Allen Deng and Ziwen Wang
Filmed in China, the movie was pulled from the theaters just ten days after it started to be shown there. China decided to pull The Yin-Yang Master: Dream Of Eternity from theaters for a good reason — plagiarism. To some people, the movie looked very similar to Doctor Strange.
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#48 Funny Girl (Egypt)
1968 | 2h 31m | Directed by William Wyler
Starring Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif and Kay Medford
In this romantic musical comedy from the 1960s, Jewish actress Barbra Streisand co-stars with Egyptian Muslim actor Omar Sharif. When the film premiered, Egypt and Israel were in an armed conflict with each other. Add to the fact that the actress supported Israel, Egypt swiftly banned the movie.
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#49 Lightyear (Saudi Arabia And UAE)
2022 | 1h 45m | Directed by Angus MacLane
Starring Chris Evans, Keke Palmer and Peter Sohn
It seems like Disney is not one to shy away from portraying LGBT+ themes in their movies. This movie, released in 2022, was one of the many famous Disney movies that went on the chopping block for the content present in it. Due to the inclusion of two women kissing, Saudi Arabia and UAE banned the movie from being shown.
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#50 The Last Temptation Of Christ (Philippines And Singapore)
1988 | 2h 44m | Directed by Martin Scorsese
Starring Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel and Barbara Hershey
When it comes to religious movies and historical people like Jesus Christ, you can be certain that some people will not be pleased. In the film, the character of Jesus Christ, portrayed by Willem Dafoe, is associated with lustful actions. Due to this, the movie got banned in Singapore and the Philippines.
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