According to reports, 10 new malls are under development and will have space for movie theater and cinema's. Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 program, an ambitious program that will sprint Saudi Arabia to the new heights and become globally competitive includes plan for entertainment and at some stage will issue entertainment licenses that will make cinema and movie theater legal across the country.
A concert for public was held after 7 years at the Red Sea Port, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
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Khaled Al Jasser, CEO and heading the Arabian Centres
According to Al Jasser, they are working out for the permit of the cinema's and Al Salaam Mall in Jeddah is one of them.
“It is new. It has been only a few months since the government has announced that it will allow cinemas in the country and that is probably one of the options most of our new malls will be equipped with — the facility to entertain.”
While the ultimate aim will be to operate the cinemas under its own company, Al Jasser concedes that Arabian Centres may have to bring in an existing cinema operator in the early stages.
“All options are open, and at the minute we are getting our license. I’m sure there will be lots of options. We could do it in-house, but definitely we will need an expertise to do it in the first phase,” he says.
While the licensing process is unchartered territory, Al Jasser is confident authorities will finalise it in the near future.
“The government is very keen to do it and they have appointed a minister to run that [entertainment]. We are waiting for them to give us the green light,” he says.
“Our malls are ready, and even in the old ones we could convert some of the facilities to host them.”
Al Jasser says there is undoubtedly a demand for cinemas in the kingdom.
“There is a huge, huge demand. People are desperate to see [them open], especially locally. You know that whenever Saudis go to Bahrain or Dubai, they go to these places a lot. I’m sure the demand is there. We are hoping that it will [be] done very soon.”
The head of the government's General Authority for Entertainment, Amr al-Madani, stirred debate last week when he raised the possibility of opening cinemas and staging concerts this year.
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