After 35 Years Cinema Returns to Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is going to open its first cinema hall after 35 years on April 18. It has been announced recently by the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information, which granted the first license to world's biggest cinema chain AMC to operate theaters in Saudi Arabia.

The first AMC movie theater will open in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia and the movie Black Panther will officially break 35 year long cinema ban in Saudi Arabia, becoming the first film publicly shown in theaters in the conservative gulf kingdom since they were shut in the 1980s.

It is expected that the Marvel superhero film will receive a gala opening. The opulent cinema house, with 600 leather seats and marble bathrooms, is a showpiece of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s drive to reinvent and reform the ultra-conservative Muslim country.

“The opening of cinema theatres will help support the local economy keeping the spending by families within Saudi Arabia in addition to contributing to creating new job opportunities in the Kingdom.” Said, Awwad Al-Awwad, Minister of Culture and Information of Saudi Arabia.

It is also expected that the Kingdom, whose population exceeds 32 million, and more than half of the population is below the age of 30 years, which forms the largest market for cinema industry in the region. The new industry hopes to create some 30,000 jobs in Saudi Arabia. As about 350 movie theaters with over 2,500 screens will be opened by 2030.

“Saudis spend roughly $20 billion a year overseas on entertainment and tourism. The Saudi government wants its citizens to spend more on entertainment and tourism now inside the country”, says Ahmed Al Khateeb, Chairman of General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia.

AMC Entertainment is owned by China’s Dalian Wanda Group. It also plans to open an additional 40 cinemas in Saudi Arabia in the next five years and up to 100 by 2030.

The 32-year-old prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman who rose to prominence last year after fighting his rivals in what was termed an anti corruption drive, has met numerous foreign leaders and introduced high-profile liberalizations policy and scheme for the people of the gulf nation, which also includes permitting Saudi Arabian women to drive.

Vision 2030 which is an ambitious plan for economic and social reform by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is bringing in a change that started last year. The drive also aims at reducing the country's reliance on oil. 

Saudi Arabia had cinemas in the 1970s, but they were closed in the early 1980s following the country’s adoption of hardline religious legal codes, but some improvised cinema screens persisted. The people of Saudi Arabia had to travel abroad in order to get their entertainment and leisure because of restrictions in the their conservative country. But things are changing now.

The movie fans that have already tasted the craze of cinema in January, when a film festival organised in Jeddah screened “The Emoji Movie” and “Captain Underpants”. Theater too is making its way to Saudi Arabia with the launch of Cirque du Soleil in Riyadh this year. The city of Jeddah also hosted the kingdom’s first-ever Comi-Con in February. WWF is also holding a Royal Rumble Wrestling event in Jeddah this month, featuring wrestler and actor John Cena.