Love And Thunder’ Release Canceled In Malaysia

One of Malaysia’s major theater operators, Golden Screen Cinemas, announced that Thor: Love and Thunder will not be releasing in the country. Another theater chain, TGV Cinemas, also posted a similar announcement. This comes after news that the film’s release would be indefinitely postponed. Thor: Love and Thunder stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, with Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, Jaimie Alexander and Tessa Thompson also part of the cast.

Malaysian theater operators made the Thor: Love and Thunder cancelation announcements on their social media. Golden Screen Cinemas attempted to inject some humor despite the disappointing news, making a Malay language pun with “Thor: Love and Takde (don’t have).”

Thor: Love And Thunder is the second movie distributed by Disney to have its release canceled this year in Malaysia. Another Disney movie, Lightyear, did not screen in Malaysia after Disney decided not to comply with conditions imposed by the Malaysian Film Censorship Board (LPF). Some of the censorship board’s demands included removing certain parts which were “found to contain elements promoting the LGBT lifestyle which violate key aspects of the Guidelines on Film Censorship.”

So far, no reason has been provided for the cancelation of Thor: Love And Thunder. However, the film includes several LGBT references and nudity, which may have placed the film in a similar situation as Lightyear.

The Taika Waititi-directed film has raked in $616 million globally so far, with $292.2 million coming from the domestic box office. Malaysian publication The Star reported that in a recent interview held before the official cancellation of Thor: Love And Thunder, Koh Mei Lee, chief executive officer of Golden Screen Cinemas and chairman of the Malaysian Association of Film Exhibitors (MAFE) estimated a loss of about four million admissions with the film’s cancelation. She added that Malaysian cinemas had been expecting Thor: Love And Thunder to make at least RM 60 million ($13.5 million USD) to RM 65 million ($14.6 million USD) at the box office.