Saudi Arabia will relax its ban on cinema and film-related activities in the Kingdom, according to reports.
The change didn’t come with an announcement, but rather, with an adjustment to a feature on the Ministry of Labor’s web portal for entrepreneurs, according to Arab News. Information on how to register for cinema licenses is now reportedly available on the Labor Ministry portal.
Saudis reportedly spend more than $1 billion watching movies in Bahrain and Dubai, revenue that the Saudi entrepreneurs are missing out on.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia’s first female-directed film, Wadjda, directed by Haifaa Al Mansour, opened in Saudi Arabia to little fanfare because there are no public cinemas in the Kingdom. Instead, the film premiered at the German embassy in Riyadh’s diplomatic quarter. The film was considered a success internationally.
With a soaring youth demographic, many of whom are now learning english or studying abroad in countries where cinemas are ubiquitous, demand for theaters is peaking.
Although cinemas have been banned since the early 1980s, Saudis are frequent consumers of video and digital media content. YouTube alone has 90 million pageviews a day in Saudi Arabia, with only 14 million active internet users.
Voices in favor of cinema in Saudi Arabia have steadily grown over the past decade. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has long backed the return of cinema to the Kingdom.
