DUBAI – Three Arab countries have banned the biblical epic movie “Noah,” while three more are expected to follow suit, a studio spokesman said Wednesday, March 12.

Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates told Hollywood giant Paramount last week that the film, starring Russell Crowe, will not be released in their countries. Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait are expected to take the same step.

The movie was due to open in Egypt on March 26 and on March 27 in the UAE, just before it premieres out in the United States and a swath of other countries.

But a Paramount spokesman said: “The censors for Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE officially confirmed the film will not release in their countries.”

“The official statement they offered in confirming this news is because ‘it contradicts the teachings of Islam,'” he added.

He said it was assumed that the film will ultimately not be shown in Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait.

Egypt’s top Islamic body, the Al-Azhar institute, said last week that the big budget film violated Islam by portraying a prophet and should not be screened in the country.

Having an actor play a prophet “contradicts the stature of prophets and messengers… and antagonizes the faithful,” it said in a statement. 

Last month Paramount announced that it would add an explanatory message to future marketing materials for the movie by acclaimed filmmaker Darren Aronofsky.

It issued a joint statement with the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) body, announcing that the feature film “is a dramatization of the major scriptural themes and not a line-by-line retelling of the Bible story.”