By: Daniel Zhao

The new Pixar Studios animated movie Lightyear is a spin-off of the Toy Story movies. It follows the adventures of Buzz Lightyear, who is voiced by Chris Evans. However, it has been banned in 13 nations and the Palestinian territory due to a single scene.

Lightyear was released on June 17, 2022, and has since been banned in multiple Muslim countries because there is a scene that contains a brief kiss shared by a lesbian couple. This is because some Muslims see being gay or lesbian as sinful. In some majority-Muslim countries, there are laws that criminalize same sex relationships. Many members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community have been arrested or sentenced to death.

The bans create a big challenge for Disney and Pixar studios at the box. Analytics have estimated that the movie will gross $100 million over the weekend. However, because theaters in countries where Lightyear is banned will no longer purchase or show the movie, that number could very well decline.

Chris Evans has called the ban “frustrating,” and says that “it feels good to be part of something that is making social progress, but it is with this ribbon of bittersweet frustrations that at the same time, [because] there are still places that have not caught up.”

One solution to Disney’s financial losses is to allow these countries’ censors to cut the scene out of the movie. This has been done multiple times before when studios to sell their movies in the Middle East and could work for Lightyear. This would bring the movie’s gross closer to the original estimation.