After 35 years, Saudi Arabia has a new cinema in the kingdom and the first movie that will be shown at the single-theater cinema will be “Black Panther”. The cinema is located in the capital of Riyadh. A gala with 500 invited guests, executives, and officials will kick off the opening of the new cinema. Public screenings of “Black Panther” will start by May 1st. Customarily, men and women don’t sit together in public places however, the government has relaxed the rules, allowing men and women to sit together during the gala if they choose. There will also be a male-only and women-only theater.
The government hopes that the new theater will help stimulate economic growth, diversification and new employment opportunities. Saudi Arabia hopes to ease its reliance on oil. The cinema business in Saudi Arabia is projected to grow to $1 billion in the coming years.
AMC says they hope to open 30 theaters in Saudi Arabia in the next 5 years and will edit movies to be culturally sensitive, "We're going to show typical Hollywood blockbusters that are very popular in the United States and Europe and elsewhere in the world," AMC CEO Adam Aron told CNN.