Saudi Arabia to Launch First Cinema in Riyadh on Wednesday

The Development and Investment Entertainment Company (DIEC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), will launch Saudi Arabia’s first public cinema this week in collaboration with US-based AMC Entertainment.

The newly created cinema complex will be located in the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh.

DIEC and AMC Entertainment will commemorate the historic moment with a gala event on Wednesday, hosting prominent local and international guests, a statement said.

The launch event will be a private screening, showing a Hollywood blockbuster, the name of which will be announced later this week.

It is the first in a series of invitation-only screenings that will be held during April, the statement added.

The cinema is set to open to the public in May, and tickets to public show times are planned to go on sale later this month through an online ticketing system.

A further three screens at KAFD’s theatre will open in the third quarter of 2018 and represent the beginning of a partnership that could see 40 or more AMC Cinemas complexes open in the Gulf kingdom over the next five years.