How Middle East politics impacted Wonder Woman release in Lebanon, Algeria and Tunisia

Wonder Woman movie has set tongues wagging with the great reviews and record breaking box office collections. The film is expected to keep the momentum going through the coming weekend beating The Mummy at the box office.

While everyone is saying good things about the movie, there are a few who want a complete ban of the film. After Lebanon stopped Wonder Woman's release, Tunisia is also calling for a ban on the release of the Gal Gadot-starrer.

Also Read: Who is the Wonder Woman actress: 10 things you might not know about Gal Gadot; never seen before photos 

The DC movie released in numerous markets last week and was set to debut in Tunisia this week. But, the Gal Gadot-starrer will not see the light of day in the North African country.

The release has been halted because the film goes against political and religious issues, Deadline reports. The ban has been made official by the Tunisian culture minister after the Arab nationalist political party, the People's Movement, requested for the move.

The outrage comes due to Gadot's participation in defence of Israel during the war with Gaza in the summer of 2014. The People's Movement party said in a statement, "We must continue the mobilisation on this type of affair, as on everything related to normalisation with the Zionist entity."

Variety reports that bookings for the movie were open in at least two Tunisian theatres on Thursday. But the release was suspended following a lawsuit filed by Tunisian Association of Young Lawyers. The Tunisian courthouse has halted Wonder Woman screening until it examines the lawsuit, local reports said.

Also Read: While Wonder Woman makes Israel proud, Lebanon bans the DC movie

Apart from Lebanon and Tunisia, the film was also pulled out of a film festival hosted in Algeria. Local reports suggested that the film's screening was called off due to similar political reasons. But Amine Idjer, head of press at MD Cine (the film festival organisers), told Agence France-Presse that Wonder Woman was pulled out because of "administrative issues linked to exhibition rights." He said the film would be added back to the line-up once those issues were resolved, Variety reported.

But these statements appear to be a cover up as a petition in Algeria called "Non! Pas en Algeria" ("No! Not in Algeria") was launched against the release of Wonder Woman just before the film's release. The petition called for the ban on the same grounds that Gadot had publicly praised Israel's military actions during the 2014 war in Gaza.