Saudi Arabia shows first commercial film in decades
Minister touts opening as a ‘landmark moment in the transformation’ of the country
Saudi Arabia was to hold a private screening yesterday of the Hollywood blockbuster Black Panther to herald the launch of movie theatres in the kingdom that are expected to open to the public as early as next month.
Authorities are planning an invitation-only screening of the movie in a concert hall converted into a cinema complex in the capital, Riyadh.
The screening will be followed by a rush to build movie theatres in major cities.
The Saudi government has dubbed yesterday’s event as “the showing of the first commercial film in the kingdom after more than 35 years.”
“This is a landmark moment in the transformation of Saudi Arabia into a more vibrant economy and society,” Saudi Minister of Culture and Information Awwad Alawwad said in a statement ahead of the screening.
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 conservatism, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman has sought to usher in a number of major social reforms with support from his father, King Salman. The crown prince is behind measures such as lifting a ban on women driving that will go into effect this summer, and bringing back concerts and other entertainment.
The social push by the 32-year-old heir to the throne is part of his Vision 2030, a blueprint for the country that aims to boost local spending and create jobs amid lower oil prices.
The Saudi government projects that the opening of movie theatres will contribute more than 90 billion riyals ($24 billion, Dh88 billion) to the economy and create more than 30,000 jobs by 2030.
The kingdom says there will be 300 cinemas with around 2,000 screens built by 2030.
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Over the past several years, Saudi Arabia has gradually been loosening restrictions on movie screenings, with local film festivals and screenings in makeshift theatres. For the most part, though, Saudis who wanted to watch a film in a movie theatre would have to drive to nearby Bahrain or the UAE for weekend trips to the cinema.
In the 1970s, there were informal movie screenings but the experience could be interrupted by the country’s religious police, whose powers have since been curbed.
By the 1980s, movie screenings were largely banned unless they took place in private residential compounds for foreigners or at cultural centres run by foreign embassies.
Access to streaming services, such as Netflix, and satellite TV steadily eroded attempts by the government to censor what the Saudi public could view.
By 2013, the film Wadjda made history by becoming the first Academy Award entry for Saudi Arabia, though it wasn’t nominated for the Oscars.
Movies screened in Saudi cinemas will be subject to approval by government censors.