Vox Cinemas wins Saudi licence
dubai — VOX Cinemas, the Mena region’s largest cinema operator, has been awarded one of the first licences to operate cinemas in Saudi Arabia.
Its brand-new cinema, which will be the first multiplex in Saudi Arabia will open at Riyadh Park Mall in the coming days.
The announcement paves the way for VOX Cinemas to start delivering on an ambitious plan to bring its world-class cinema entertainment portfolio to Saudi Arabia and support the growth of audio-visual and creative talent across the Kingdom.
The VOX Cinemas Riyadh Park experience will include four screens located within the largest Magic Planet Family Entertainment Centre in the region. Content including animation, family-friendly films and educational movies will be available through a completely unique and world-class portfolio of viewing experiences including the first IMAX screen to exhibit movies and VOX KIDS, the concept designed especially for young movie fans.
VOX Cinemas parent company Majid Al Futtaim, the leading shopping mall, communities, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa and Asia is an active supporter of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. Majid Al Futtaim has already announced project investments valued at SAR 14 billion across their mall asset, fashion, leisure and retail offerings in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This commitment is expected to create more than 114,000 direct and indirect job opportunities. Majid Al Futtaim CEO Alain Bejjani said: “We thank the Saudi Government, the Ministry of Culture and Information and the General Commission for Audio-visual Media for the confidence they have placed in us to contribute to a new chapter in the history of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. VOX Cinemas will join a growing stable of Majid Al Futtaim’s leading retail, leisure and entertainment brands operating across the Kingdom.”
VOX Cinemas is investing an additional SAR 2 billion to open 600 screens in the next five years in Saudi Arabia. These new cinema developments will create some 3,000 direct jobs, providing a boost to the diversification agenda for the Saudi economy. Through its partnership with 20th Century Fox, the distribution arm of Majid Al Futtaim Cinemas will also be exclusively distributing Fox content to all cinemas across Saudi Arabia. In 2018, the company is planning to release anticipated hits including The Darkest Minds, The Predator and the James Cameron produced Alita Battle Angel.
Bejjani added, “Majid Al Futtaim is proud to be one of the largest private sector investors in the Kingdom and Vision 2030, with an investment commitment now increasing to SAR 16 billion.”
Majid Al Futtaim Ventures CEO Ahmed Galal Ismail said, “We are excited by the opportunity to be a catalyst for the development of creative talent and content in the Kingdom. VOX Cinemas is honoured to deliver our world-class portfolio of viewing experiences and premium concepts unrivalled anywhere else in Saudi Arabia. We are committed to providing our Saudi audience with countless great moments while making a direct contribution to the diversification of the Saudi economy.”
Further cinemas currently under design include Majid Al Futtaim’s Mall of Saudi and City Centre Ishbiliyah, with both locations opening in Riyadh in the coming years, with additional announcements on new locations expected in the coming weeks.
As recipient of the Global Achievement in Exhibition Award at CinemaCon 2017 and with 32 cinema complexes in seven countries in the Mena region, VOX Cinemas is already well-known to Saudi movie fans In addition to the Imax and Kids concepts at the Riyadh Park location, VOX Cinemas complexes across the region also include Theatre by Rhodes and Gold by Rhodes.
— business@khaleejtimes.com