Movies get censored in Kuwait, thats a fact and no matter how much we complain about it there isn’t anything that can be done. Knowing and accepting movies get censored, how can movie theaters improve the experience for movie goers? One reader proposed an idea recently in the comments and it got me thinking, why haven’t local movie theaters implemented his idea yet?
The reader (Ally) suggested that local movie theaters should start declaring if a movie has been censored or not, and if it has been, then they should declare the duration that was cut and what was cut. So for example:
00:02:45 Censored
Censored content includes:
Reglious themes and/or imagery
Nudity
Sexuality
Right now with my weekly movies list, I check the films content advisory on IMDB, and if I read that there is nudity or scenes of sexuality, I mark the movie on the list that it might contain censorship. But this isn’t accurate and a lot of times movies I marked as not containing censorship ended up being censored. The most accurate way right now to tell if a movie is censored or not is to ask someone who has already watched it, but that isn’t practical obviously.
So Cinescape and Grand Cinemas, if you’re reading this, start being transparent with us, let us know if a movie is censored or not.
31 replies on “Movie Theaters Should Start Declaring if a Movie is Censored”
Cinescape used to write the number of minutes cut from the movie on their Instagram account but stopped in 2015
Of course they won’t do it, as it would directly affect their revenue.
I can see why you would think that but I disagree with you. The way i look it is they would gain movie goers by being transparent.
Firstly by being transparent they’ll improve their relationship with us.
Secondly, right now if you go to a movie and its butchered, you’ll leave upset at the movie theater and you’ll also leave with a negative experience. Most likely you won’t be back to the movies for some time if you go back at all because the next time a movie comes out you like you’ll choose to torrent it. But if you’re aware of how much of the movie is censored and what is censored before going, then your expectations would be managed. You can decide yourself that yeah, i don’t mine a 2 second kissing scene being cut and go watch the movie.
Finally, it will increase traffic to cinemas because everyone always assumes a movie is cut when a lot of movies aren’t. By highlighting if a movie is censored or not people can still decide to go to ones that aren’t censored.
Mark, not a whole lot of things in Kuwait are transparent, are they?
The Arab World runs on discretion and quick short-cuts.
Plus, it took Cinescape twenty years to not allow children to watch gory films, what makes you think they’re going to start doing this anytime soon?
They don’t like to work.
BTW you can just compare the runtime on the cinema website to IMDB to figure out is a movie is cut. The cinema companies post the censored runtime so you can even know how much it is censored. Thats what I always do, and its better than guessing if it will be cut 🙂
yeah if you dig around, investigate, compare runtimes, read the IMDB parents advisory you can kinda figure if a movie is cut or not. but that isn’t the point of this post. the point is that movie theaters should share this information with us in the first place, we shouldn’t have to dig around for it.
To be honest I am lazy, I just wrote a script that does it for me. Its checks what movies are in the cinema and compares it IMDB and outputs the result. No digging at all.
#HumbleBrag
Not true in all cases. I did this for Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2. I compared runtimes with IMDb, it was all the same so I happily went to watch it. Man did I leave the cinema disappointed.
Can we talk about why Despicable Me 3 had 2 censored/cut scenes? (Yes, I saw that movie; only because I went with my little sister)
One place to check for possible cuts is the British Board of Film Classification’s (BBFC) website as they often provide written notes along with the classification.
Their notes for DM3 include the following:
“Mild rude humour includes a scene in which men’s clothes are blown off by a powerful gun, resulting in some un-detailed buttocks nudity. There is also brief buttocks nudity when the Minions are presented in a shower room.”
There was a fourth scene referencing Olivia Newton John’s ‘Physical’ video that was cut along with another which seemed to contain only dialogue.
I saw that movie too; only because I freggin love the minions.
Now that’s what you call MAN’ing UP!
beauty and beast got banned completely FFS for an apparent gay moment LMAO
my lord this place needs to wake up !
The most recent film that was butchered was Guardians of the Galaxy 2!
There were cuts that made no sense and made the movie plot incomprehensible.
I have to watch it again to see what was actually cut.
Same here, I have no idea what was going on in that movie. Very disappointed..
“What are you gonna do? Charge me with smoking?” then proceeds to show her vagina to the world, immortalizing it as America’s first onscreen pussy. I miss the 90’s!
Having lived in Kuwait for almost 2 years, I’ve yet to see any film that hasn’t been censored. Even children’s animated films like Despicable Me 3. It certainly puts me off ever wanting to go the cinema here, which is a real shame as it’s one of the few leisure activities available all year round, day and night.
Two words: “Itunes Rental”
I don’t enjoy the cinema experience anymore, uncomfortable seats, greasy popcorn, phones, hushed couple disagreements.
I just fire up a bucket of real popcorn, doritos and dipping sauce and watch away. Then I wake up next morning on the couch covered in popcorn and cheese powder not remembering what happened the night before. No place like home.
Ticket sales in North America have fallen by 80 million in 10 years, this is actually a huge reason why.
TV is better, something like Game of Thrones has the quality of a movie but each season is like watching a trilogy of movies and there are gonna be 8 seasons. Watching just one series in a year is usually about as long as watching 3 movies.
Also expecting people to show up to a building away from their house at a certain time to watch a movie is hilarious when everyone has millions of movies at home waiting for them to press play
Sharon Stone is so darn scorching hot in this classic movie. it should be banned.
I just stopped going to the movies altogether. If only others would do the same.
How will that help?
Mark ,,, you say this as if you really believe a change will actually happen !
hey mark
kncc does so but not consistently
Man, it’s useless! Going to the theatres here makes you regret the time & money wasted over a couple of hours.
You have an entire team of producers, actors, editors, cameramen, engineers. Etc working ever so hard to produce a movie that has sequence & a story, yet it comes here to get butchered leaving us lost in the wilderness not knowing how the movie started or why it ended.
In my modest opinion, this will never change and kuwait shall remain kuwait no matter what we say or comment.
The least they could do is VIP theatres where you pay 5KD to watch the unsensored version.this way kids will not go, the value is feasible to an educated class, there will Les people going so better control and last but not least we can all enjoy the movie with out punks shouting or throwing popcorn at each other or the girls. (Far fetched).
Good luck
Best way to check runtime is go to websites of cinemas in 2-3 countries and you get a fair idea
I would not be surprised if Grand Cinemas or other cinemas (other than Cinescape) jumps at this opportunity and has a competitive advantage over Cinescape.
All of these companies are not selling us anything but TIME!
I havent been to the cinema since The Mummy Returns was released. The cinema is too much for a person like me, I prefer to watch movies on TV, home video, plane or online; it’s less hassle and I don’t have to worry about censorship
They’re not going to do that. When I went to watch wolf of wall street, they had cut 1 HOUR of the movie! If they declared it beforehand I would never waste my money on it. Most people wouldn’t.
They should have cinemas for conservative people and cinemas for non-conservative people. That way one is not censored and the second is. 5kd for a full uncensored movie and the 3 kd for the censored one, accordingly kncc and gc will know the taste of their clients and manage it.
On another note i watched FF8 in Oman and it was surprisingly uncensored. It appears they don’t use the same censorship standards as in Kuwait.