By: Connie Cao

The new release of Lightyear has been a huge accomplishment and landed one of the best debuts for a kid-friendly movie during the pandemic. However, this 2022 film has achieved at the bottom of the Muslim world, leading to the movie being banned. Many authorities in the Muslim world have banned this film due to the scene showing two women exchanging a brief kiss, according to ABC news.

This problem has had a great impact at the box office for one of Disney’s biggest animated films of the year as this movie was released during the coronavirus pandemic. This movie has climbed the rank, reaching over $100 million in its first weekend, according to Jon Gambrell of the Associated Press. “Lightyear”’ was on fire in many regions but still prove an inconvenience in certain regions in the Muslim world.

“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” Evans told Associated Press earlier this week at the premiere of “Lightyear” in London. “It feels good to be a part of something that is making social progress, but it’s with this ribbon of bittersweet frustration that at the same time, there are still places that have not caught up.”

This ban was expected in the Muslim world. Many Muslims consider gay and lesbians sinful, according to ABC news. Many members of the LGBTQ+ community have been arrested or even imprisoned. Some countries even penalize lesbians and gays with the death penalty.

In fact, Muslims are not the only ones that banned this film, many other countries will not release this film over the same animated sex kiss. Other nations refused to allow this film in the cinemas including Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates, Disney said.