IMAX Egypt cinemas announced in a statement on its Facebook page that the screening of the “Eternals” in Egypt has been canceled, after it was scheduled for screening, Wednesday, according to the distributing company.
The distribution companies set the date for showing the movie in Egypt, on Wednesday, five days after its commercial release in the US. Its first world screening recorded US$ 7 million in revenues.
The movie, presented by “Marvel”, sparked great controversy after Phastos, played by Brian Tyree Henry, was depicted as a married gay man and as the first gay superhero in the history of superheroes in American cinema.
The Eternals sparked great controversy due to homosexual scenes between the two heroes of the movie, as well as scenes where a god appeared and was addressed during the scene.
The scenes were rejected by some Asian, Arab and Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, which banned the movie due to violating the conservative values of society.
Angelina Jolie, one of the film’s heroines, denounced the ban saying at a press conference: “I’m sad for [those audiences]. And I’m proud of Marvel for refusing to cut those scenes out.”
“I still don’t understand how we live in a world today where there’s still [people who] would not see the family Phastos has and the beauty of that relationship and that love,” she continued.
“How anybody is angry about it, threatened by it, doesn’t approve or appreciate it is ignorant,” Jolie added.
Foreign films that deal with same-sex relationships are either banned or screened after deleting those scenes, which puts the audience in front of a cut movie and that affects the dramatic structure. This happened with the 2004 movie “Brokeback Mountain”, which was screened in Egypt after cutting homosexual scenes for its protagonist, Heath Ledger.
The events of Eternals take place in the period following the events of the famous movie “Avengers: Endgame” from Marvel Studios, which was shown in 2019.
An unexpected tragedy occurs that forces ancient aliens who have lived on Earth in secret for thousands of years to come out of the shadows and reunite against humanity’s oldest enemies again.
The Eternals, which started commercial ads in cinemas around the world including the US, stars Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Don Lee, Lia McHugh, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Gemma Chan, and Liah McHugh.
The distribution companies set the date for showing the movie in Egypt, on Wednesday, five days after its commercial release in the US. Its first world screening recorded US$ 7 million in revenues.
Until now, however, it’s not clear if the Eternals will be completely banned in Egypt as well. The Facebook page of IMAX Egypt published a post on Wednesday reading, “The movie won’t be be releasing in Egypt starting tomorrow (Wednesday), as initially planned. Stay tuned for more updates.”
