Saudi Arabia has announced it will lift a decades-long ban on cinemas as part of social reforms by the powerful crown prince that are shaking up the ultra-conservative kingdom.
“Commercial cinemas will be allowed to operate in the kingdom as of early 2018, for the first time in more than 35 years,” the culture and information ministry said in a statement on Monday, adding that the government would begin licensing venues immediately.
Reviving cinemas represents a paradigm shift for Saudi Arabia. The kingdom is promoting entertainment as part of sweeping changes known collectively as Vision 2030, which are being implemented despite opposition from conservatives.
“This marks a watershed moment in the development of the cultural economy in the kingdom,” the information minister, Awwad Alawwad, said in the statement.
Hardliners, who see cinemas as a threat to cultural and religious identity, were instrumental in shutting them down in the 1980s.
Saudi Arabia’s highest-ranking cleric spoke in January of the “depravity” of cinemas, saying they would corrupt morals, but the authorities appear to be shrugging off resistance.
Saudi filmmakers have long argued that a ban on cinemas does not make sense in the age of YouTube.
Saudi films have been making waves abroad, using the internet to circumvent distribution channels and the often stern gaze of state censors.
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