Saudi Arabia to open cinemas early next year

A tentative date of March 2018 has been set

Saudi Arabia said on Monday that public cinemas would be allowed in the conservative kingdom and the first cinemas were likely to open early next year.

“As the industry regulator, the General Commission for Audiovisual Media has started the process for licensing cinemas in the Kingdom,” minister of culture and information Awwad bin Saleh Alawwad said in a statement. He added that the first cinemas are expected to open in March 2018.

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Earlier, former chairman of the Saudi Cinema Committee Fahd al Tamimi stated that cinemas will be opened before the end of 2017. He stressed that there is nothing in the Ministry of Culture and Information laws that prevent cinema halls.

The kingdom had some cinemas in the 1970s that are still banned but concerts have already started taking place across the country. The government has promised a shake-up of the cultural scene with a set of Vision 2030 reforms. The Boston Consulting Group has been commissioned to identify venues like parks and theaters for the kingdom to develop through a mix of government funding and private sector investment.

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The kingdom’s most ambitious leisure project to date is a giant entertainment city being planned for outside the capital Riyadh, which would aim to draw regional visitors with resorts, golf courses, car racing tracks and a Six Flags theme park.

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