The 'Barbie' movie has been banned and censored across 2 Southeast Asian countries, and it shows how the territorial dispute over the South China Sea is becoming intense

• Vietnam and the Philippines are up in arms over a controversial map in the upcoming "Barbie" movie.
• The map seemingly depicts China's claim over a disputed part of the hotly contested South China Sea.

A hotly contested territorial claim has moved away from the realm of politics and landed smack-dab in the middle of the upcoming "Barbie" movie promotions.

At its heart, the controversy is about a cartoonish depiction of a contested region of the South China Sea which has angered both, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Vietnam banned the movie, saying it's seen featuring a map depicting China's claim over a disputed part of the waterway, the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported on July 3.

A screengrab of the movie trailer shows Margot Robbie as "Barbie" standing in front of a map that appears to show a line of dashes over the disputed territory.

Warner Bros., the movie distributor, defended the imagery, telling Variety last Thursday the map is a "child-like crayon drawing" that was "not intended to make any type of statement." Warner Bros. did not respond to a request for comment from Insider.

However, Vietnam rejected the explanation and said it would uphold the ban, Tuoi Tre media outlet reported Saturday.

Over in the Philippines, the country's censor board said in a Wednesday statement that it has allowed "Barbie" to be screened following two review sessions and thorough consultations — including one with a legal expert – over the map.

The board considered the context of the "cartoonish map" portrayed in the movie and is convinced that the "contentious scene" does not depict China's territorial claim, the board said in the statement.

However, the Philippine censors have asked Warner Bros. "to blur the controversial lines in order to avoid further misinterpretations," the Philippine Star newspaper reported Tuesday, citing a censor board letter to a senator.

When asked to confirm the letter, the board referred Insider to its Wednesday statement.

Barbie is not the only movie to land in hot water over this disputed territory

Barbie is not the first movie to be banned in Vietnam over the territorial dispute.

"Abominable" and "Uncharted" were both banned in the country for depicting a similar map appearing to show the so-called "nine-dash line," — a U-shaped region in the South China Sea that China has claimed sovereignty over. Vietnam and the Philippines also have claims to parts of this region.

Even K-pop group Blackpink got caught in the crosshairs of geopolitics after its Beijing-based tour organizer used an image of a map appearing to show the nine-dash line on its website. The organizer has since apologized and said it would change the image, Tuoi Tre reported Friday.

Vietnamese authorities have also ordered Netflix and a local telecom company to remove a Chinese drama from the streaming platform as the show appeared to feature the disputed map, the news outlet separately reported Monday.

The South China Sea is a hotly contested waterway, with China, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam all staking competing claims.

In 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague found that the "nine-dash line" had no legal basis. However, China has disregarded the ruling.

The recent problems faced by the entertainment companies like Warner Bros and Netflix highlight geopolitical risks confronting corporations, particularly as they diversify growth plans from China to the growing Southeast Asia market, analysts at Eurasia Group, a risk consultancy, wrote in a Wednesday note seen by Insider.

"Barbie" premieres in US theaters on July 21.