‘Beauty and the Beast’ will not premiere on Thursday
KUALA LUMPUR: The release date for Disney’s live action remake of the animated movie
Beauty and The Beast here has been postponed indefinitely.
Originally slated to premiere in Malaysia on Thursday, according to an email from its distributor The Walt Disney Co (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, it stated that the film had been postponed due to “an internal review of release date”.
However, the email neither clarified the reason behind the postponement, nor indicated a new release date.
When contacted, a Disney spokesman said the company was unable to comment further on the issue.
The much-anticipated film, which opened worldwide last Friday, courted controversy for including a gay character, although there were only two rather irrelevant scenes which might have suggested an LGBT lifestyle.
Local major cinema chains such as Golden Screen Cinemas and TGV Cinemas have also taken down the film from their respective showtime listings.
In the film, Emma Watson stars as Belle, Dan Stevens as the Beast and Luke Evans as Gaston.
The film garnered controversy when its director Bill Condon said in the United Kingdom magazine
Attitude that the character of Le Fou, played by Josh Gad, would have a “nice exclusively gay moment” in the movie.
Following that, Russia became the first country to react by imposing restrictions on the film, with children under the age of 16 banned from watching it.
A drive-through cinema in Alabama, in the US, also banned the film from its screens because of the gay character.
The film is a remake of Disney’s classic animated feature which became the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars in 1991.