Saudi Arabia has ended a 35-year ban on movie theaters with a screening of "Black Panther."

America's biggest movie theater company, AMC, (AMC) played the Hollywood blockbuster on Wednesday at its new single-screen cinema in the financial district of the capital Riyadh.

The gala opening was limited to about 500 invited guests, executives and officials, but public screenings of the movie will begin soon, AMC said. A Saudi official said that would happen from May 1.

AMC said men and women would be able to sit together at the gala screening. The Saudi official said there would also be no segregation when theaters open to the public -- moviegoers would be able to choose between mixed, male-only and female-only screenings.

Saudi men and women are customarily separated in public places. But that restriction is being relaxed. Men and women were able to sit together at several music concerts and events in 2017.

A further three screens are expected to open at the AMC cinema in the coming months and will show a range of Hollywood films.

Late last year, Saudi Arabia announced it would allow cinemas to open in the country as part of its economic overhaul, dubbed Vision 2030.

The government hopes that opening movie theaters will act as a catalyst for economic growth and diversification, creating new employment opportunities and providing Saudis with a greater range of entertainment options. The goal over the coming years is to reduce Saudi's economic reliance on oil.

Related: 6 ways life will change in Saudi Arabia in 2018

AMC was the first company to score an operating license from the Saudi Ministry of Culture.

"We're going to show typical Hollywood blockbusters that are very popular in the United States and Europe and elsewhere in the world," AMC CEO Adam Aron told CNN. "Hollywood has been showing movies in the Middle East for a long time [and] has proven that it can be sensitive to the local cultures here and in the region."

John Sfakianakis, director of economic research at the Gulf Research Center in Riyadh, said that opening new entertainment venues will encourage Saudis to spend more money at home rather than on vacations in nearby countries.

"The economy will benefit greatly as fewer nationals will exit to watch movies and be entertained," he said. "Younger people and older people will be flooding to the place to see the show," he added.

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Culture forecasts that the country of 32 million people will have 350 cinemas by 2030.

AMC, which is owned by Chinese property and entertainment conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group, has plans to open at least 30 cinemas across the kingdom in the next five years. It's hoping to operate half of all Saudi theaters in the long run in partnership with the Saudi state-owned Development and Investment Entertainment Company.

Vue International also plans to open 30 multiplexes in Saudi Arabia in the coming years. It said it expects the first venue to open later this year.

Vox Cinemas and Novo Cinemas, both based in the United Arab Emirates, are interested in expanding across the border into the new, potentially much bigger, Saudi market. The UAE chains already cater to regional audiences by subtitling movies in Arabic and removing scenes of a sexual nature.

Saudi Arabia said last year that movies "will be subject to censorship according to media policy standards of the Kingdom," to ensure they comply with Saudi values and principles and do not contradict Sharia, or Islamic, law.

Saudi Arabia's cinema industry is expected to grow to around $1 billion over the coming years, AMC said.

Saudi movie fans already got a taste of Tinseltown in January, when a film festival in Jeddah screened "The Emoji Movie" and "Captain Underpants."

-- CNN's Sarah El Sirgany and Chris Liakos contributed to this report.</s>Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia held a private screening on Wednesday of the Hollywood blockbuster Black Panther to herald the launch of movie theatres in the kingdom, and tickets go on sale on Thursday for public showings on Friday.

Authorities planned the invitation-only event in a concert hall converted into a cinema complex in the capital, Riyadh. The screening, attended by both men and women, will be followed by a rush to build movie theatres in major cities.

The Saudi government dubbed Wednesday's event as "the showing of the first commercial film in the kingdom after more than 35 years".

Audience members clearly enjoyed the moment, eating popcorn and erupting into applause and hoots when the movie started.

"This is a landmark moment in the transformation of Saudi Arabia into a more vibrant economy and society," Saudi Minister of Culture and Information Awwad Alawwad said in statement ahead of the screening.</s>Saudis attend the screening of the movie "Black Panther", the first film shown in the Kingdom in 35 years. Center for International Communication Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia screened Marvel blockbuster "Black Panther" on Wednesday night, marking the country's first film screening in more than three decades.

The screening was praised by advocates as a milestone in Saudi's modernization efforts, but attendees were reminded of the country's conservative laws when crucial scenes in the film were censored for modesty.

The film's regional distributor, Italia Film, told The Hollywood Reporter that 40 seconds of the film had been censored, which it said was on par with edits made for screenings of the film throughout the region.

According to Associated Press, the ending scene which featured a kiss between characters was cut, despite scenes that depicted violence being left in.

Awwad Alawwad, Saudi's minister of culture and information, attended the Riyadh premiere and told Associated Press films screened in the country need to strike a balance for Saudi audiences.

"We want to ensure the movies are in line with our culture and respect for values. Meanwhile, we want to provide people with a beautiful show and really enjoy watching their own movies," he said.

Last year, Saudi Arabia announced movies chosen for screening couldn't contradict "Sharia Laws and moral values in the Kingdom."

Variety noted in December that movies screened in Saudi Arabia can expect strong censorship, particularly around scenes which feature sex, LGBT representation, and religious issues.

Mario Haddad Jr., a Middle East distributor for Empire International, told Variety that films shown in the region are usually cut shorter than their international releases.

Many major blockbusters, like 2009's "Watchmen", were heavily cut for Middle East audiences, which critics said led to the movie being "near incomprehensible."

Producers of the 2011 film "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" declined to show the movie in Gulf cinemas with the requested cuts, which prompted backlash.

"Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to make the cuts that were necessary for it to be screened," Piroska Szakacs from local distributors Empire International said at the time. "The filmmakers wouldn't allow it."

But Saudi Arabia's decision to lift the 35-year ban on cinemas points to major efforts by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to modernize the country and make its economy more competitive on the global stage.

Saudi Arabia plans to open about 350 cinemas and 2,500 screens by 2030.

The culture ministry believes this will generate $1 billion in box office spend each year, making it the 11th largest film market in the world.</s>Saudi Arabia's 35-year ban on movies is coming to an end, with the premiere of Marvel's superhero film Black Panther.

The Hollywood blockbuster will play at a private screening in Riyadh, and cinemas are set to open to the public in May.

Forty cinemas will open in the next five years under an agreement with AMC Entertainment Holdings.

The first cinema to open will be located in the King Abdullah Financial District and the main theatre is set to have 500 leather seats, orchestra and balcony levels and marble bathrooms.

Cinemas were closed on the orders of strict clerics, but they are being reopened under a larger reform plan which aims to catapult the ultra-conservative kingdom into the 21st century.

Rolling back a ban on theatres is just one in a set of sweeping reforms designed to rebrand Saudi Arabia as a tolerant nation and a modern economy.

Saudis will also have public concerts and a fashion week, and women will soon be allowed to drive.

The ban was lifted by 32-year-old crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was made heir to the throne last year.

Lifting the cinema ban is part of his so-called Vision 2030, a blueprint for the country that aims to boost local spending and create jobs amid sustained lower oil prices.

Adel Abdel Ghafar, from Brookings Doha Centre, said it was part of a vision for a "more open Saudi".

"One that is open for tourism, business, and less dependent on oil," he said.

Mr Ghafar said Mr Salman was an ambitious prince trying to, "consolidate his hold on power" and appeal to a younger audience.

"It feels like he's definitely in a rush because the kingdom is indeed in need of reform," he said.

The majority of the 32 million Saudi population are under 30 and a 2014 study showed Saudis watched films online on a weekly basis.

Mr Salman has promised to create jobs by weaning the country off its "addiction to oil" and foreign companies have responded with billions of dollars in promised investment.

But Mr Ghafar said the crown prince's agenda had darker undertones.

The crown prince has jailed dozens, including peaceful clerics, journalists and intellectuals.

Samah Hadid, Amnesty International's director of campaigns in the Middle East, said the changes were cosmetic.

"If he is intent on enabling real change and being a true reformer, he really does need to end the systematic repression and end these human rights abuses in his country," she said.

As well as cracking down at home, the crown price has waged a military campaign against Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen, killing more than 5,000 civilians as millions more face famine.</s>Saudi Arabia will hold a private screening today of the Hollywood blockbuster Black Panther — a stark reversal for a country where public movie screenings were banned in the 1980s during a wave of ultraconservatism.

Authorities have planned an invitation-only screening of the movie in a concert hall converted into a cinema complex in the capital, Riyadh. The screening at the King Abdullah Financial District Theatre will be followed by a rush to build movie theatres in major cities that are expected to open as early as next month.

The Saudi government has dubbed Wednesday's event as "the showing of the first commercial film in the kingdom after more than 35 years."

"This is a landmark moment in the transformation of Saudi Arabia into a more vibrant economy and society," Minister of Culture and Information Awwad Alawwad said in statement ahead of the screening.

Many Saudi clerics view Western movies and even Arabic films made in Egypt and Lebanon as sinful.

Despite decades of ultraconservative dogma, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has sought to ram through a number of major social reforms with support from his father, King Salman.

The crown prince is behind measures such as lifting a ban on women driving that will go into effect this summer, and bringing back concerts and other forms of entertainment to satiate the desires of the majority young population. The social push by the 32-year-old heir to the throne is part of his so-called Vision 2030, a blueprint for the country that aims to boost local spending and create jobs amid sustained lower oil prices.

The government projects the opening of movie theatres will contribute more than 90 billion riyals ($30 billion Cdn) to the economy and create more than 30,000 jobs by 2030. The kingdom says there will be 300 cinemas with around 2,000 screens built by 2030.

Over the past several years, Saudi Arabia has gradually been loosening restrictions on movie screenings, with local film festivals and screenings in makeshift theatres. For the most part, though, Saudis who wanted to watch a film in a movie theatre would have to drive to nearby Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates for weekend trips to the cinema.

In the 1970s, there were informal movie screenings, but the experience could be interrupted by the country's religious police, whose powers have since been curbed.

Saudi writer and dissident Jamal Khashoggi describes the theatres of the 1970s as being "like American drive-ins, except much more informal." In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, he wrote that to avoid being arrested at one of these screenings in Medina, a friend of his broke his leg jumping off a wall to escape the religious police.

By the 1980s, movie screenings were largely banned unless they took place in private residential compounds for foreigners or at cultural centres run by foreign embassies.

Access to streaming services, such as Netflix, and satellite TV steadily eroded attempts by the government to censor what the Saudi public could view. By 2013, the film Wadjda made history by becoming the first Academy Award entry for Saudi Arabia, though it wasn't nominated for the Oscars.

Movies screened in Saudi cinemas will be subject to approval by government censors, as is the case in other Arab countries. Scenes of violence are not cut, but scenes involving nudity, sex or kissing often do get axed.

It's not clear whether Black Panther will undergo a similar censorship for Wednesday's screening, which will be attended by diplomats, industry insiders, the media and CEO of AMC Entertainment Adam Aron.

U.S.-based AMC was granted the first licence to operate a cinema in Saudi Arabia in a deal signed earlier this month in California with the crown prince.

AMC is partnering with a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, known as the Public Investment Fund, to build up to 40 AMC cinemas across the country over the next five years.</s>The opening of the first movie theater in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday has been highly anticipated across the country, after over 35 years of prohibition for religious reasons.

The first film screening is to be in the capital Riyadh, where a mixed Saudi and foreign audience is set to watch the Marvel superhero film "Black Panther."</s>Black Panther collected yet another ground-breaking accolade last night when it became the film which ended Saudi Arabia’s ban on cinemas.

For the past 35 years the country has had a ban on cinemas since the eighties, but in a step to bring the Middle Eastern country forward the Saudi government have done away with the rule.

Earlier this month it was revealed that Marvel’s box office beast would be the film to end the cinema ban, and last night a select audience became the first members of the public to watch the tale of Wakanda in the country’s first AMC Cinema.

Guests attended a special red carpet screening of the movie last night in Riyadh, and were treated to an early screening of the film – while the rest of the country has to wait till Friday before they can see it.

‘It’s a new era, a new age. It’s that simple. Things are changing, progress is happening. We’re opening up and we’re catching up with everything that’s happening in the world,’ said Rahaf Alhendi, who attended the showing.

And, in what is seen as another progressive step, the audience of the film were not subject to segregation, meaning men and women were allowed to sit next to each other and enjoy the film together.

However, it seems that the country – famed for its conservative values – didn’t let the film escape the scrutiny of censors.

Apparently Disney’s regional distributor Italia Film revealed that 40 seconds of the film have been removed, reported The Hollywood Reporter.

While they wouldn’t elaborate on which scenes these came from, the censoring is believed to be in line with cuts made to Black Panther across the wider Middle East region.

Another industry insider suggested that, with the whole world watching and the event being hailed as a major step in Saudi Arabia’s liberalization program, certain rules may have been relaxed.

The source told the publication: ‘They want to send a special message out there. But going forward … I don’t know what the deal is going to be.’

It’s worth noting that in some strange twist of fate Black Panther isn’t the first film to be screened to the public, as that honour falls to The Emoji Movie, which became the first movie shown in public in 35 years – though it wasn’t held at a cinema (as non-exist at present).

MORE: Halle Berry reckons her DC flop Catwoman paved the way for Marvel’s Black Panther

MORE: Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn spin-off could finally introduce Batgirl to the DC Extended Universe</s>Saudi Arabia Is Lifting Its Longtime Ban On Movie Theaters

Saudi Arabia is ending a three-decade ban on cinema. Black Panther screened for an invitation-only crowd last night. A look at Saudi showbiz finds filmakers eager to light up the big screen.</s>A commercial movie theater opened Wednesday in Saudi Arabia’s capital city of Riyadh ― ending a nearly 40-year ban on public cinemas in the deeply conservative country.

The theater, a converted concert hall, hosted a glitzy, invitation-only screening of the Marvel Studios film “Black Panther” attended by government officials and foreign dignitaries. Members of the general public will be able to purchase tickets on Thursday for Friday showings, according to Reuters.

The U.S.-based AMC Theatres operates the cinema. Earlier this month, the company announced it had signed a deal with the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, to open and operate up to 40 theaters in the country over the next five years.

Government censors will review movies before they’re shown at Saudi theaters. A kissing scene in “Black Panther” was reportedly cut from the film for Wednesday’s screening.

Men and women will generally be allowed to sit together in theaters, The Associated Press reports, though some screenings will be reserved for a male-only crowd. The country’s rules about gender segregation typically split customers into a men-only section and a “family” section reserved for women and their male relatives.

Saudi Arabian public movie theaters began shutting down in the late 1970s after the country adopted ultraconservative Islamic law. Saudi Arabia’s powerful conservative clerics claimed Western movies did not meet their hard-line interpretations of Islam.

The new push for theaters is part of a larger package of economic and social reforms being promoted by the country’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The government hopes the re-introduction of movie theaters will add more than $24 billion to the economy by 2030.

Saudia Arabians have long been able to watch Western television and films on their computers, phones and through satellite television. In recent years, the country has also hosted local film festivals and screenings in makeshift theaters. But in order to watch a movie at a theater with a public crowd, Saudi Arabians would have to travel to nearby countries like the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

“This is a historic day for your country,” Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Entertainment, said at the “Black Panther” premiere. “It’s been about 37 years since you’ve been able to watch movies the way movies are meant to be watched in a theater, together on a big screen.”

For more images from Saudi Arabians’ day at the movies, scroll through the slideshow below.</s>(RIYADH, Saudi Arabia) — The lights dimmed and the crowd of men and women erupted into applause and hoots Wednesday evening as Hollywood’s blockbuster “Black Panther” premiered in Saudi Arabia’s first movie theater.

Though it was a private, invitation-only screening, for many Saudis it marked one of the clearest moments of change to sweep the country in decades. It’s seen as part of a new era in which women will soon be allowed to drive and people in the kingdom will be able to go to concerts and fashion shows, and tuck into a bucket of popcorn in a cinema.

“It’s a new era, a new age. It’s that simple. Things are changing, progress is happening. We’re opening up and we’re catching up with everything that’s happening in the world,” said Rahaf Alhendi, who attended the showing.

Authorities said the public would be able to purchase tickets online Thursday for showings starting Friday. But there may be delays.

Movies screened in Saudi cinemas will be subject to approval by government censors, and Wednesday night’s premiere was no exception. Scenes of violence were not cut, but a final scene involving a kiss was axed.

Still, it’s a stark reversal for a country where public movie screenings were banned in the 1980s during a wave of ultraconservatism that swept Saudi Arabia. Many Saudi clerics view Western movies and even Arabic films made in Egypt and Lebanon as sinful.

Despite decades of ultraconservative dogma, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has pushed through a number of major social reforms with support from his father, King Salman, to satiate the desires of the country’s majority young population.

“This is a historic day for your country,” Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Entertainment, told the crowd at the screening. “It’s been about 37 years since you’ve been able to watch movies the way movies are meant to be watched in a theater, together on a big screen.”

U.S.-based AMC, one of the world’s biggest movie theater operators, only two weeks earlier signed a deal with Prince Mohammed to operate the first cinema in the kingdom. AMC and its local partner hurriedly transformed a concert hall in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, into a cinema complex for Wednesday’s screening.

Aron said the company plans to rip out the current concert-style seats and replace them with plush leather recliners and build three more screens in the complex to accommodate up to 5,000 movie-goers a day.

Samer Alsourani traveled from Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province for the event. He commended the crown prince for following through on his promises to modernize the country.

“This is the first time that we really see something that’s really being materialized,” he said.

The social reforms undertaken by the 32-year-old heir to the throne are part of his so-called Vision 2030, a blueprint for Saudi Arabia that aims to boost local spending and create jobs amid sustained lower oil prices.

The Saudi government projects that the opening of movie theaters will contribute more than 90 billion riyals ($24 billion) to the economy and create more than 30,000 jobs by 2030. The kingdom says there will be 300 cinemas with around 2,000 screens built by 2030.

AMC has partnered with a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, known as the Public Investment Fund, to build up to 40 AMC cinemas across the country over the next five years.

Saudi Arabia had already started gradually loosening restrictions on movie screenings in the past few years, with local film festivals and screenings in makeshift theaters. For the most part, though, until now Saudis who wanted to watch a film in a movie theater had to drive to nearby Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates for weekend trips to the cinema.

In the 1970s, there were informal movie screenings but the experience could be interrupted by the country’s religious police, whose powers have since been curbed.

Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident Saudi writer, describes the theaters of the 1970s as being “like American drive-ins, except much more informal.” In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, he wrote that a friend once broke his leg at a screening in Medina when he jumped off a wall to escape the religious police and avoid arrest.

By the 1980s, movie screenings were largely banned unless they took place in private residential compounds for foreigners or at cultural centers run by foreign embassies.

Access to streaming services, such as Netflix, and satellite TV steadily eroded attempts by the government to censor what the Saudi public could view. By 2013, the film “Wadjda” made history by becoming the first Academy Award entry for Saudi Arabia, though it wasn’t nominated for the Oscars.

To adhere to the kingdom’s norms on gender segregation, certain screenings may be held for families and others for male-only crowds. But, generally movie theaters will not be gender segregated with “family sections” for women and related men and separate “single sections” for male-only crowds as is customary at restaurants and cafes.

Saudi Minister of Culture and Information Awwad Alawwad told The Associated Press the government aims to strike a balance between the country’s Islamic mores and people’s movie experiences.

“We want to ensure the movies are in line with our culture and respect for values. Meanwhile, we want to provide people with a beautiful show and really enjoy watching their own movies,” he said.

The new movie theater also came equipped with prayer rooms to accommodate the daily Muslim prayer times.
A 35-year ban on movie theaters ends in Saudi Arabia with Marvel Studios' Black Panther being the first film to show.