Malaysia will screen “Power Rangers” — the first big budget superhero movie with an LGBT protagonist — without cuts.
According to Golden Screen Cinemas and TGV Cinemas, the two biggest cinema chains in Malaysia, the film will open on Thursday and tickets are already on sale.
POWER RANGERS movie will be start screening by 23 March 2017. We will update the showtime by today.
— TGV Cinemas | #TontondiTGV ?? (@TGVCinemas) March 22, 2017
Power Rangers is back online! You can buy your tickets now 😉
— GSC Jom Hydro Run! (@GSCinemas) March 22, 2017
The greenlight comes one day after Malaysia’s Film Appeals Committee overturned last week’s ruling by the censorship board that Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” should be cut because of what director Bill Condon called an “exclusively gay moment” in the family film.
Disney refused to make the cut and decided to pull the film from the country. Now, the film will open on March 30 “with no cuts.”
Beauty & The Beast is coming to #TGVCinemas on 30/3/2017! Advance sales start on 23/3 at https://t.co/dpe5OsP0YW!
— TGV Cinemas | #TontondiTGV ?? (@TGVCinemas) March 21, 2017
Speculation arose that “Power Rangers” would suffer the same fate, given Malaysia’s strict laws against homosexuality. When addressing “Beauty and the Beast,” Film Censorship Board chairman Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid had said at the time that scenes “promoting sexuality were forbidden.”
On Tuesday, “Power Rangers” star Becky G confirmed to Screen Rant that the Yellow Ranger, Trini, will become the first LGBT protagonist in a superhero movie franchise. The character questions her sexual orientation in one scene of “Power Rangers.”
“Power Rangers has always represented diversity and they’ve always been ahead of the curve on a lot of things,” Becky G told Screen Rant. “And although it may be a touchy subject for some people, I think it’s done in a very classy way… People should accept themselves for who they really are and be proud of that and take ownership of that first… I think that’s why Trini never found her purpose just yet, until she met them and that’s why she never really learned to love herself, because she didn’t accept who she really is just yet.”