Onward launched with $2m in North America last week in preview shows and made $40m on its opening weekend.
Pixar’s Onward is facing a ban in four Middle East countries namely Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudia Arabia because of the film’s LGBTQ representation.
The movie follows a pair of teenage elf brothers on a quest to resurrect their dead father. In of the scenes, the two lead characters voiced by actors Tom Holland and Chris Pratt have a conversation about parenting with two female police officers, at which point a purple cyclops officer named Specter, voiced by actress Lena Waithe, says: “It’s not easy being a new parent– my girlfriend’s daughter got me pulling my hair out, okay?”
Other Middle Eastern markets are showing the film, including Bahrain, Lebanon and Egypt, according to reports. According to Deadline, Russia censored the scene by changing the word “girlfriend” to “partner”.
It is not the first time Disney has faced the censor board over its gay characters. In 2017, the live-action Beauty and the Beast was pulled from countries including Kuwait and Malaysia after censors requested Disney remove references to antagonist LeFou, played by actor Josh Gad, as being gay.
