{"id":63507,"date":"2018-04-19T06:17:20","date_gmt":"2018-04-19T06:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=63507"},"modified":"2018-04-19T06:17:20","modified_gmt":"2018-04-19T06:17:20","slug":"first-saudi-cinema-opens-with-popcorn-and-black-panther","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/first-saudi-cinema-opens-with-popcorn-and-black-panther.html","title":{"rendered":"First Saudi cinema opens with popcorn and ‘Black Panther’"},"content":{"rendered":"

First Saudi cinema opens with popcorn and ‘Black Panther’<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The lights dimmed and the crowd of men and women erupted into applause and hoots as Hollywood\u2019s blockbuster \u201cBlack Panther\u201d premiered in Saudi Arabia\u2019s first movie theater.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Though it was a private, invitation-only screening on Wednesday evening, for many Saudis it marked one of the clearest moments of change to sweep the country in decades.<\/span><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a new era, a new age. It\u2019s that simple. Things are changing, progress is happening. We\u2019re opening up and we\u2019re catching up with everything that\u2019s happening in the world,\u201d said Rahaf Alhendi, who attended the showing.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Authorities said the public would be able to purchase tickets online on Thursday for showings starting Friday. But there may be delays.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Movies screened in Saudi cinemas will be subject to approval by government censors, and Wednesday night\u2019s premiere was no exception. Scenes of violence were not cut, but a final scene involving a kiss was axed.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Still, it\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/h2>\n

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\u2019s majority young population.<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cThis is a historic day for your country,\u201d Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Entertainment, told the crowd at the screening. \u201cIt\u2019s been about 37 years since you\u2019ve been able to watch movies the way movies are meant to be watched in a theater, together on a big screen.\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n

U.S.-based AMC, one of the world\u2019s biggest movie theater operators, only two weeks earlier signed a deal with Prince Mohammed to operate the first cinema in the kingdom. AMC and its local partner hurriedly transformed a concert hall in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, into a cinema complex for Wednesday\u2019s screening.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Aron said the company plans to rip out the current concert-style seats and replace them with plush leather recliners and build three more screens in the complex to accommodate up to 5,000 movie-goers a day.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Samer Alsourani traveled from Saudi Arabia\u2019s Eastern Province for the event. He commended the crown prince for following through on his promises to modernize the country.<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cThis is the first time that we really see something that\u2019s really being materialized,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/h2>\n

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.<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Saudi government projects that the opening of movie theaters will contribute more than 90 billion riyals ($24 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.<\/span><\/h2>\n

AMC has partnered with a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia\u2019s sovereign wealth fund, known as the Public Investment Fund, to build up to 40 AMC cinemas across the country over the next five years.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Saudi Arabia had already started gradually loosening restrictions on movie screenings in the past few years, with local film festivals and screenings in makeshift theaters. For the most part, though, until now Saudis who wanted to watch a film in a movie theater had to drive to nearby Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates for weekend trips to the cinema.<\/span><\/h2>\n

In the 1970s, there were informal movie screenings but the experience could be interrupted by the country\u2019s religious police, whose powers have since been curbed.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident Saudi writer, describes the theaters of the 1970s as being \u201clike American drive-ins, except much more informal.\u201d In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, he wrote that a friend once broke his leg at a screening in Medina when he jumped off a wall to escape the religious police and avoid arrest.<\/span><\/h2>\n

By the 1980s, movie screenings were largely banned unless they took place in private residential compounds for foreigners or at cultural centers run by foreign embassies.<\/span><\/h2>\n

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 \u201cWadjda\u201d made history by becoming the first Academy Award entry for Saudi Arabia, though it wasn\u2019t nominated for the Oscars.<\/span><\/h2>\n

To adhere to the kingdom\u2019s norms on gender segregation, certain screenings may be held for families and others for male-only crowds. But, generally movie theaters will not be gender segregated with \u201cfamily sections\u201d for women and related men and separate \u201csingle sections\u201d for male-only crowds as is customary at restaurants and cafes.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Saudi Minister of Culture and Information Awwad Alawwad told The Associated Press the government aims to strike a balance between the country\u2019s Islamic mores and people\u2019s movie experiences.<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cWe want to ensure the movies are in line with our culture and respect for values. Meanwhile, we want to provide people with a beautiful show and really enjoy watching their own movies,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/h2>\n

The new movie theater also came equipped with prayer rooms to accommodate the daily Muslim prayer times.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/entertainment\/first-saudi-cinema-opens-with-popcorn-and-black-panther\/2018\/04\/18\/735dca0e-4365-11e8-b2dc-b0a403e4720a_story.html?utm_term=.bacaebebb2f9<\/span><\/h2>\n
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