Philippines Allows Barbie Film but Wants Controversial Map Blurred 

Australian actress Margot Robbie meets fans during a pink carpet event to promote her new film "Barbie" in Seoul on July 2, 2023. (AFP)
Australian actress Margot Robbie meets fans during a pink carpet event to promote her new film "Barbie" in Seoul on July 2, 2023. (AFP)
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Philippines Allows Barbie Film but Wants Controversial Map Blurred 

Australian actress Margot Robbie meets fans during a pink carpet event to promote her new film "Barbie" in Seoul on July 2, 2023. (AFP)
Australian actress Margot Robbie meets fans during a pink carpet event to promote her new film "Barbie" in Seoul on July 2, 2023. (AFP)

Philippine censors said Wednesday they have allowed the upcoming Barbie film to be shown in cinemas, after asking its Hollywood distributor to blur a map allegedly showing China's claims to the disputed South China Sea.

The fantasy comedy film about the famous doll, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, is set to open in the Southeast Asian nation on July 19.

After reviewing the film twice and consulting foreign affairs officials and legal experts, the government's Movie and Television Review and Classification Board said it would allow it to be screened.

The censors began examining "Barbie" last week after Vietnam reportedly banned the film over scenes featuring a map showing the so-called nine-dash line, which China uses to justify its maritime claims.

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, despite rival claims from other Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.

But after "meticulous" scrutiny of the film, Philippine censors were convinced that the "cartoonish map" did not depict the nine-dash line.

"Instead, the map portrayed the route of the make-believe journey of Barbie from Barbie Land to the 'real world,' as an integral part of the story," the censorship board said in a statement.

"Rest assured that the Board has exhausted all possible resources in arriving at this decision as we have not hesitated in the past to sanction filmmakers/ producers/ distributors for exhibiting the fictitious 'nine-dash line' in their materials."

In a separate letter to Philippine Senator Francis Tolentino, who had criticized the film for "violating Filipino fisherfolks' rights", the censors said they had asked Hollywood studio Warner Bros to "blur" the controversial lines on the map.

Dashed lines drawn in a "child-like manner" appeared in several locations on the map around land masses identified as Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Asia, the censors said.

But it found only eight dashes around the landmass labelled "Asia".

"Moreover, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia are not visible on the map," the board said in the letter dated July 11 and shared with reporters.

"This is in stark contrast to the maps found in the banned films 'Abominable (2019)' and 'Uncharted (2022)'," it said.

Warner Bros did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.

But a Warner Bros spokesperson was quoted by Variety as saying the map was a "child-like crayon drawing" and "not intended to make any type of statement".

The Philippines' approval of "Barbie" coincided with the seventh anniversary of an international ruling that China's historical claims to the South China Sea have no legal basis.



Judge Dismisses Justin Baldoni’s $400M Lawsuit Against ‘It Ends With Us’ Costar Blake Lively

Justin Baldoni attends the 'It Ends With Us' premiere in New York City, US, August 6, 2024. (Reuters)
Justin Baldoni attends the 'It Ends With Us' premiere in New York City, US, August 6, 2024. (Reuters)
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Judge Dismisses Justin Baldoni’s $400M Lawsuit Against ‘It Ends With Us’ Costar Blake Lively

Justin Baldoni attends the 'It Ends With Us' premiere in New York City, US, August 6, 2024. (Reuters)
Justin Baldoni attends the 'It Ends With Us' premiere in New York City, US, August 6, 2024. (Reuters)

A judge on Monday dismissed the lawsuit that actor and director Justin Baldoni filed against his "It Ends With Us" costar Blake Lively after she sued him last year for sexual harassment and retaliation.

US District Court Judge Lewis Liman's decision is the latest development in the bitter legal battle surrounding the dark romantic film.

Baldoni and production company Wayfarer Studios countersued in January for $400 million, accusing Lively and her husband, "Deadpool" actor Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion.

The New York judge ruled that Baldoni can’t sue Lively for defamation over claims she made in her legal claim, because allegations made in a lawsuit are exempt from libel claims. Liman also ruled that Baldoni's claims that Lively stole creative control of the film didn't count as extortion under California law.

The judge, however, said Baldoni could revise the lawsuit if he wanted to pursue different claims related to whether Lively breached or interfered with a contract. His legal team indicated it planned to do so.

"Ms. Lively and her team’s predictable declaration of victory is false," one of Baldoni's lawyers, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement. He said that Lively's claims that she was sexually harassed on the film set, and then subjected to a secret smear campaign intended to taint her reputation, were "no truer today than they were yesterday."

"It Ends With Us," an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel that begins as a romance but takes a dark turn into domestic violence, was released in August, exceeding box office expectations with a $50 million debut. But the movie’s release was shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni.

The judge also dismissed Baldoni's defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, which had reported on Lively's sexual harassment allegations.

"Today’s opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively, along with those that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties dragged into their retaliatory lawsuit, including Ryan Reynolds, (publicist) Leslie Sloane and The New York Times," Lively's attorneys, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, said in a prepared statement.

The lawyers said they "look forward to the next round" of seeking attorneys’ fees, treble damages and punitive damages.

A spokesperson for The New York Times said they were "grateful to the court for seeing the lawsuit for what it was: a meritless attempt to stifle honest reporting."

"Our journalists went out and covered carefully and fairly a story of public importance, and the court recognized that the law is designed to protect just that sort of journalism," Charlie Stadtlander said in an emailed statement.

Lively appeared in the 2005 film "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and the TV series "Gossip Girl" from 2007 to 2012 before starring in films including "The Town" and "The Shallows."

Baldoni starred in the TV comedy "Jane the Virgin," directed the 2019 film "Five Feet Apart" and wrote the book "Man Enough."