Saudi: A mega Latin American cinema exhibitor has unveiled plans to expand and open six new movie theatres across Saudi Arabia, over the next two years.
Cinépolis, the largest cinema exhibitor in Latin America and fourth largest exhibition circuit in the world, said that the first movie theatre will open in Lulu Mall, Dammam, at the end of this year, four scheduled for 2020 and the sixth for 2021.
The Saudi General Commission for Audiovisual Media (GCAM) issued the fourth exhibitor license for cinema operation to Cinépolis International under the entity Luxury Entertainment LLC, which has partnered with Al Hokair Group for expansion in Saudi along with its regional partner, Al Tayer Group, in August 2018.
Cinépolis opened its first cinema in Bahrain in January 2019. Since then it has seen an ever-increasing following from the local community in Bahrain and Saudis alike.
A recent study by PwC revealed that the Saudi cinema market could potentially generate 60 to 70 million admissions and the box office market could be $950 million in 2030.
Cinépolis will introduce its world-class cinema-going experience through high-touch theatre concepts, including Luxury, Premium, Macro XE, 4D Emotion and kid-approved Cinépolis Junior auditoriums to the country that is home to over 39.5 million potential moviegoers.
The new openings will be located in Lulu Mall in Dammam, Al Hokair Time in Jazan, Obhur Mall in Jeddah, Cordoba Mall in Riyadh, Najran City Center and Al Massarh Mall, with a total of 63 screens across all six locations.