Dubai: Dubai-based Majid Al Futtaim has been awarded a licence to operate cinemas in Saudi Arabia, and would be opening its first theatre “in the coming days,” the company said on Thursday.
The new four-screen Vox Cinema will open at Riyadh Park Mall. Majid Al Futtaim says it will be the first multiplex in Saudi Arabia.
The country this week repealed a nearly 40 year ban on commercial cinemas in the kingdom, with a screening of the superhero blockbuster Black Panther on Wednesday.
In a statement, Majid Al Futtaim said that the cinemas will be located within the company’s Magic Planet Family Entertainment Centre at the mall.
They added that content at the cinema would include animations, family-friendly films, and educational movies, in addition to mainstream movies.
Vox Cinemas says it is investing an additional SAR 2 billion ($533 million) 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, the company adds.
In a separate statement, Majid Al Futtaim chief executive 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.”
