Movie theatre experience
First Saudi cinema opens with popcorn and ’Black Panther’.
RIYADH: The lights dimmed and the crowd of men and women erupted into applause and hoots as Hollywood’s blockbuster Black Panther premiered in Saudi Arabia’s first movie theatre.
Though it was an invitation-only screening on Wednesday evening, for many Saudis, it marked one of the clearest moments of change to sweep the country in decades.
It’s seen as part of a new era in which women will soon be allowed to drive and people in the kingdom will be able to go to concerts and fashion shows, and tuck into a bucket of popcorn in a cinema.
“It’s a new era, a new age. It’s that simple. Things are changing, progress is happening. We’re opening up and we’re catching up with everything that’s happening in the world,” said Rahaf Alhendi who attended the showing.
Authorities said the public would be able to purchase tickets online for movies starting today. But there may be delays.
Movies screened in Saudi cinemas will be subject to approval by government censors, and Wednesday’s premiere was no exception. Scenes of violence were not cut, but a final scene involving a kiss was axed.
Still, it’s a stark reversal for a country where public movie screenings were banned in the 1980s during a wave of ultraconservatism that swept Saudi Arabia. Many Saudi clerics view Western movies and even Arabic films made in Egypt and Lebanon as sinful.
Despite decades of ultraconservative dogma, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has pushed through a number of major social reforms with support from his father, King Salman, to satiate the desires of the country’s majority young population.
“This is a historic day for your country,” Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Entertainment, told the crowd at the screening. “It’s been about 37 years since you’ve been able to watch movies the way movies are meant to be watched in a theatre, together on a big screen.”
US-based AMC, one of the world’s biggest movie theatre operators, only two weeks earlier signed a deal with Prince Mohammed to operate the first cinema in the kingdom.
AMC and its partner hurriedly transformed a concert hall in the capital Riyadh into a cinema complex for Wednesday’s screening.
Aron said the company plans to rip out the concert-style seats and replace them with plush leather recliners and build three more screens to accommodate up to 5,000 movie-goers a day.
Samer Alsourani travelled from Saudi Arabia’s Eastern province for the event.
He commended the crown prince for following through on his promises to modernise the country.
“This is the first time that we really see something that’s really being materialised,” he said.
The social reforms undertaken by the 32-year-old heir to the throne are part of his so-called Vision 2030, a blueprint for Saudi Arabia that aims to boost local spending and create jobs amid sustained lower oil prices.
The Saudi government projects that the opening of movie theatres will contribute more than 90bil riyals (RM93.2bil) to the economy and create more than 30,000 jobs by 2030. — AP