'Uncharted' pulled out from Philippine cinemas over South China Sea map
MANILA, Philippines — Following a request from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) has pulled out the screening of Sony action movie "Uncharted" in Philippine cinemas.
In a press release issued Wednesday, the DFA said the MTRCB responded favorably to its request to reevaluate and pull out the movie starring Tom Holland.
Citing a scene showing China's illegal nine-dash map claim over the South China Sea, the DFA said the scene is contrary to national interest.
"In its response to the DFA, MTRCB stated that it had 'ordered Columbia Pictures Industries Inc. to cease and desist from exhibiting the said motion picture, unless and until they are able to remove the objectionable scenes,'" the DFA said.
Columbia has since complied with the order and pulled out the movie from cinemas, according to the MTRCB.
The DFA stressed that Beijing's nine-dash line claim over the South China Sea, part of which is the West Philippine Sea, has been settled by the July 2016 arbitral award by the UNCLOS-backed tribunal.
The international tribunal ruled that China's nine-dash claim is invalid.
"The Arbitral Tribunal held that China’s nine-dash line has no legal basis as its accession to UNCLOS has extinguished any of its rights that it may have had in the maritime areas in the South China Sea. China also never had historic rights in the waters within the nine-dash line," the DFA said.
In 2019, the DFA also requested the MTRCB to pull out DreamWorks animated movie "Abominable" over a scene showing China's nine-dash line.
Before the bull out, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. called for a boycott and ban of "Abominable" in the country.
Locsin then said the "offending scene" should be cut out to "show our displeasure better than if we unconstitutionally ban it as some suggest."
In November 2021, the DFA also made a complaint against Australian political drama "Pine Gap" for its depiction of China's nine-dash line.
Netflix has since pulled out two episodes of the drama following a decision from the MTRCB that certain parts of the drama are "unfit for public exhibition."
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