
Cultural conflicts, religious mores, political grudges — these are just some of the reasons why a film might get banned in countries around the world, preventing their residents from ever seeing it. Banning a film can be detrimental to its box office success – the Marvel Cinematic Universe lost millions of dollars in ticket sales when China blocked the majority of its releases from 2019 to 2023 – but in certain cases, a ban can also generate the sort of negative attention that lures in audiences. Case in point: the gruesome 1981 Italian thriller “Cannibal Ferox,” which, when released in the United States as “Make Them Die Slowly,” proudly trumpeted its record-setting (and allegedly dubious) ban in 31 countries in its advertising.