It Ends With Us: Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni Starrer Banned In Qatar Due To Kissing Scenes

Blake Lively starrer It Ends With Us is receiving positive reviews from the critics and audience. The romance drama is also performing well at the box office in the US. However, the overseas earnings might record low as the movie has been banned in Qatar.

It Ends With Us hits a blow at overseas box office

The film has been banned in Qatar due to kissing scenes. The country's censorship committee has blocked the PG-13 film, from Sony Pictures and Wayfarer Studios, from a theatrical release, according to a report in Variety. The movie features kissing scenes and a non-graphic sex scene with characters keeping their undergarments on.

This is not the first movie Qatar has banned. The country has very strict censorship rules and has previously banned Greta Gerwig's Barbie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Marvel's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Eternals. All of these movies were rated PG-13 in the US.

Not just this, Qatar has also blocked the R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings, in which Jennifer Lawrence goes nude; the Toy Story spinoff Lightyear, which features a gay kiss; Pixar's Onward, for a vague reference to a lesbian character, and Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell's Anyone but You, which features a couple of steamy romance scenes.

When Disney refused to comply with Qatar's censorship rules

In 2021, Disney refused to comply with censorship cuts for West Side Story, starring Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose. It's understood that the censors were not approving of Anybodys, a character who is transgender and portrayed by non-binary actor Iris Menas.

Films with LGBTQ references or characters have been routinely targeted by censors in the Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait, as well as China.

What else do we know about It Ends With Us?

It Ends With Us is directed by Justin Baldoni, who stars opposite Lively. It follows a florist named Lily who falls in love with a neurosurgeon. After Lily runs into her childhood friend (Brandon Sklenar), Ryle gets jealous, and their relationship takes a dark turn. It is an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's popular romance novel of the same name.

With IANS Inputs