Drought of Cinemas in Saudi to end soon; Al-Rashed Empire Cinema Consortium to open 30 theatres

Riyadh, July 30: Saudi Arabia in April this year, raised curtains after 35 years displaying its first commercial movie in a theatre. But now to give a boost to the commercial movies, Al-Rashed Empire Cinema Consortium will open as any as 30 theatres in various cities of the Kingdom.

 

Notably, Al-Rashed Empire Cinema Consortium on Sunday announced to open 30 theatres in various cities around Saudi Arabia after it was granted a licence to operate cinemas in the kingdom by the General Authority for Audiovisual Media.

Earlier, AMC also unveiled its plan to open 40 cinema theatres in 15 cities of Saudi Arabia over the next five years. Likewise, Dubai-based Vox Cinemas will open its cinema theatres. Around 2,500 theatres are expected to open in the country by 2030.

In the year 2017, Saudi Arabia lifted the ban on commercial cinemas that lasted more than three decades. The kingdom closed its cinemas in the early 1980s following a revival of hardline Islamic sentiment, but Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced to lift the cinema ban. On April 18 this year, Marvel’s superhero movie Black Panther became the first commercial movie to hit the Saudi Arabian theatres.

The announcement from Saudi government came as a part of the Vision 2030 social and economic reform program in the Kingdom and also follows the announcement that women in the Kingdom will be allowed to drive come June 2018.

Earlier in the 70s, cinemas were commonplace in Saudi Arabia and while they were mostly perceived as contradictive of Arab cultural norms, they were not banned. In Riyadh, there is a very small industry, producing mostly feature films and documentaries.