Philippines pulls Hollywood action flick from cinemas over South China Sea map

MANILA, April 27 (Reuters) – The Philippines has pulled the plug on all home screenings of a Hollywood movie known as “Uncharted”, over a scene displaying a disputed map of the South China Sea, the overseas ministry mentioned on Wednesday.

The transfer comes shortly after Vietnam, one other claimant within the South China Sea, additionally banned the Sony Footage motion film, which stars Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg. It was launched within the Philippines on Feb. 23. learn extra

A two-second body within the film incorporates a picture of the so-called nine-dash line, which marks China’s claims within the South China Sea, a strategic waterway. The scene “is opposite to nationwide curiosity,” the overseas ministry mentioned in an announcement.

The U-shaped line is a function used on Chinese language maps for example its maritime territory in a area the place Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, and Malaysia, the Philippines all have competing claims.

A 2016 ruling by an arbitration tribunal in The Hague invalidated China’s claims to nearly the whole waterway by which about $3 trillion price of ship-borne commerce passes yearly. Beijing didn’t take part within the courtroom proceedings and doesn’t recognise the ruling.

Sony’s Columbia Footage Industries Inc was ordered to cease screening the movie and has complied, the overseas ministry mentioned. Sony Footage didn’t instantly reply to an e-mailed request for remark.

In 2019, the Philippines’ overseas ministry requested DreamWorks to close down cinema screenings of animated movie “Abominable” after a scene confirmed the identical Chinese language nine-dash line.

Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Modifying by Kanupriya Kapoor

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