Saudi Arabia says it will allow cinemas to operate for the first time in decades

MANAMA, Bahrain — Saudi Arabia said on Monday that it would allow cinemas to operate in the strictly conservative kingdom for the first time in decades, in the latest sign of a broader government push to relax social restrictions, provide popular entertainment for young Saudis and diversify the economy.  

 In a statement, the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information said the process of licensing commercial cinemas, which had been banned in the country since the early 1980s, was underway and that the first cinemas would open early next year. 

 As part of a social and economic reform program led Saudi Arabia’s 32-year old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, officials have recently announced they would end a ban on women driving, allowed public music concerts and curbed the authority of “religious police” tasked with enforcing the country’s conservative social norms. 

 Under Prince Mohammed, Saudi Arabia has also arrested hundreds of businessmen, princes and former government officials as part of an anti-corruption drive that also appeared aimed at consolidating the crown prince’s authority as well as boosting the state’s coffers. 

 While the changes have been broadly welcomed by young people as long overdue, they have risked angering ultraconservatives, including clerics. The changes have not included any broadening of political freedoms in Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy, and arrests over the last few months have included influential clerics as well as government opponents. 

 The emerging model in Saudi Arabia — of encouraging economic and social reforms, rather than political liberalization — follows the example of the United Arab Emirates, a neighboring state that has emerged as the Saudi leadership’s closest regional ally. 

 Awwad Alawwad, the Saudi minister of culture and information, called the opening of cinemas “a watershed moment in the development of the cultural economy of the kingdom,” according to the government statement.

 The opening of cinemas also opened up a potentially huge market for foreign developers vying for the kingdom’s business, according to John Fithian, the president of the U.S.-based National Association for Theater Owners, who led a delegation that met with Saudi officials before the announcement on Monday. “This could be a billion dollar market down the road,” and employ more than 20,000 people, he said in an interview last week. 

 It also opened up a thicket of regulatory and logistical issues, from how strictly men and women would be segregated in the new theaters, to what kind of films would be permitted. The Saudi authorities heavily censor film content on TV, including love scenes, women’s bodies or scenes that depict alcohol or drug use. 

 Saudi officials have also discussed plans to better support the kingdom’s indigenous film industry. Saudi filmmakers have produced several critically-acclaimed features in recent years, including the feature-length “Wadjda,” but they have been overshadowed by more seasoned and better supported regional competitors, including Iranian, Egyptian and Palestinian filmmakers. 

 Sources of funding remained a concern. A member of the Saudi royal family, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a billionaire investor who had shown an interest in local filmmaking, and was a producer of “Wadjda,” was one of the businessmen arrested during the anti-corruption sweep in November.    

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