Saudi Arabia to have 45 cinemas by 2020: Official

Saudi Arabia’s General Commission for Audiovisual Media (GCAM), the government body charged with developing and regulating the audiovisual industry for Saudi Arabia, is working to facilitate the opening 45 cinemas in the Kingdom by 2020, its CEO Bader Alzahrani said.

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“GCAM is working toward achieving Quality of Life Program’s goal by opening 45 cinemas by 2020, with emphasis on providing various different entertainment opportunities for everyone, which will enhance and contribute to diversifying the economy,” Alzahrani said in a statement.

“The cinema sector in Saudi Arabia will see significant growth, especially with GCAM’s continuous efforts to facilitate and promote national and foreign investment to enter the sector,” said Alzahrani who will inaugurate Cinema Build KSA Forum on April 14-15, 2019.

Last year, Saudi Arabia’s Council of Economic and Development Affairs announced the launch of the Quality of Life Program 2020, a SAR 130 billion initiative, aimed at “improving individual and family lifestyles.”

The Quality of Life program also targets to increase of the number of out-of-home entertainment venues from 154 to 260 by 2020 and aims to raise the available retail space in shopping malls from 0.15 to 0.19 square meters (sqm) per capita.