05 June, 2017
Alamo Drafthouse in Austin just recently declared that it would be hosting women-only Wonder Woman screenings and its announcement has resulted in a backlash from men online. Here's a brief statement from the group's Facebook page, where it states that playing a film with an Israeli lead actress is actually illegal.
But a group called Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel-Lebanon wants the movie with a former Miss Israel and army soldier shunned. The movie is scheduled to debut in at least one movie theater in the Lebanese capitol of Beirut, where posters and digital billboard have started to sprout up in the days leading up to the premiere.
The new DC Comics film "Wonder Woman", starring Gal Gadot, had earned a 97 percent fresh rating on movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes by Tuesday afternoon, after the site had tallied 66 reviews. They have officially sent in a request to ban the film, but in order for it to be approved it needs a recommendation from a six-member committee from the Ministry of Economy.
Lebanon has been at war with Israel for several decades, and the country has a law in place that prohibits Lebanese citizens from buying Israeli products, and bans travel to Israel or any contact with Israeli citizens.
"The state took the right decision", said Samah Idriss, a member of the boycott campaign.
The recent trend in making superhero properties even more appealing has been to make them R-rated; with Fox finding tremendous success in this regard with both Deadpool and Logan.
The film stars Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Chris Pine as Steve Trevor, Robin Wright as General Antiope, Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta, Lisa Loven Kongsli as Menalippe, Danny Huston as General Erich Ludendorff, David Thewlis as Sir Patrick Morgan, Elena Anaya as Doctor Maru, Ewen Bremner as Charlie, Saïd Taghmaoui as Sameer and Eugene Brave Rock as the Chief.
But Elie Fares, a Lebanese blogger, said the movie apparently has been green-lighted, since theaters are getting ready to show it.