The Philippines has pulled American action film “Uncharted” from cinemas because of a scene showing China’s nine-dash line map that includes parts of the West Philippine Sea.
The U-shaped demarcation line is used on Chinese maps for its claims over contested parts in the South China Sea.
The move by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to remove the film from local theaters was made following a request from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) saying the scene containing the image of the nine-dash line claim of China is “contrary to national interest.”
“The MTRCB stated that it had ordered Columbia Pictures Industries Inc. to cease and desist from exhibiting the said motion picture, unless and until they are able to remove the objectionable scenes,” the DFA said, quoting the MTRCB’s response.
“MTRCB further reported that Columbia has since complied with its order and has pulled out the movie from the cinemas.”
“Uncharted” is not the first Hollywood movie to be pulled from Philippine theaters over a scene that showed the controversial line. In 2019, DreamWorks’ animated feature “Abominable,” about a Chinese girl who discovers a yeti, was also pulled from cinemas after a scene also showed the same line.
“The nine-dash claim is contrary to national interest, which has been settled in the 2016 Arbitral Award. The Arbitral Tribunal held that China’s nine-dash line has no legal basis as its accession to UNCLOS has extinguished any of its rights that it may have had in the maritime areas in the South China Sea,” the DFA said.
“China also never had historic rights in the waters within the nine-dash line,” it added.
“Uncharted” is a 2022 action-adventure starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg and is distributed in the Philippines by Columbia Pictures, the local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.
