Muslim terrorists in the movies?

A piece in the Opinion Journal on Hollywood's self-censorship of muslim terrorists.

Fox went out on a limb and presented a plot line in its hit series "24" about a Muslim terror cell within suburban America. After outrage early this year from CAIR and the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the network placated the activists with public service announcements featuring star Kiefer Sutherland: "...It is important to recognize that the American Muslim community stands firmly beside their fellow Americans in denouncing and resisting all forms of terrorism." But it's a stretch to group all American Muslims as supporting the war on terror. Let's face it--not all non-Muslim Americans stand behind the U.S. in the terror war, either.

Ridley Scott, director of the flop "Kingdom of Heaven," was pressed early on by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and other Muslim groups to not negatively stereotype his Crusades-era Muslims. Muslim groups got to pre-screen the film. The AP quoted actress Eva Green as saying, "I think Muslims will be extremely proud and happy, because they're seen as noble, chivalrous characters. . . . Especially in this Crusade, the Arab people behaved in a more noble way than the Christian people."

The historical accuracy of the film was blasted by the British historian Jonathan Riley-Smith, a leading Crusades scholar, as "Osama bin Laden's version of history. It will fuel the Islamic fundamentalists."

With production costs exceeding $130 million, "Kingdom of Heaven" took in under $20 million domestically on its opening weekend earlier this year. However, its take in more than 100 markets outside the U.S. on the same weekend was $56 million. Variety reported that the movie opened on 45 screens in the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman and Syria. Considering that more than three-quarters of the film's lifetime gross has come from overseas, according to tracking firm Box Office Mojo, principals in the making of the film might have considered appeasement of potential critics necessary for success. Arab critics received the film well.