New Spider-Man film pulled from cinema programs in Arab world, possibly over transgender flag

The new blockbuster movie “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” has been abruptly removed from cinema listings in more than a dozen Muslim-majority countries this week. No explanation was given, but it’s apparently because of the inclusion of a blink-and-you-miss-it transgender poster in the background of one frame. The Middle East distributor for the computer-animated Sony Pictures film did not respond to multiple requests for comment. No explicit bans of the film were announced, but there were indications that it will not reach screens. A source close to the film says there were no expectations it will be shown in the United Arab Emirates, for example, citing rigorous censorship of films aimed at children and young viewers.