'Abominable' film axed in Malaysia after rebuffing order to cut China map

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 (Reuters) - DreamWorks' animated movie
"Abominable" will not be released in Malaysia after its
producers declined to meet a censor board requirement to cut a
scene showing China's "nine-dash line" in the South China Sea,
the movie distributor said on Sunday.
The U-shaped line is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its
territorial claims over vast expanses of the resource-rich South
China Sea, including areas claimed by other countries.
Vietnam pulled the movie from cinemas last week, while the
Philippines' foreign minister has called for the scene showing
the map to be cut and the film boycotted.
Malaysia's Film Censorship Board said last week that it has
given the green light for the movie to be screened in cinemas
without the scene depicting the map.
"Universal has decided not to make the censor cut required
by the Malaysian censor board and as such will not be able to
release the film in Malaysia," a spokeswoman for the film's
distributor, United International Pictures, told Reuters.
Malaysia's Film Censorship Board did not have an immediate
comment.
The film was set to be released in Malaysian cinemas on Nov.
7.
"Abominable", about a Chinese girl who discovers a yeti
living on her roof, was jointly produced by Shanghai-based Pearl
Studio and DreamWorks Animation. Comcast CMCSA.O owns
DreamWorks and its parent company Universal Pictures.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more
than $3.4 trillion worth of goods are transported annually,
under its unilaterally declared "nine-dash-line". The line
overlaps territorial claims made by Malaysia, Vietnam, the
Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan.
Last week, Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah
said the country needs to boost its naval capabilities to
prepare for possible conflict in the South China Sea even as it
pursues non-militarisation of the waterway.