Opening shortly, the Vox Cinemas Riyadh Park experience will include four screens located within the largest Magic Planet Family Entertainment Centre in the region.
Dubai-based Majid Al Futtaim has announced plans to open 600 new Vox Cinema screens across Saudi Arabia over the next five years at an investment of $533 million (SR2 billion).
The announcement comes after the Vox Cinemas, a unit of Majid Al Futtaim and one of the Mena regions largest theatre operators, was granted one of the first licenses to operate cinemas in Saudi Arabia.
The company’s first multiplex in Saudi Arabia will open at Riyadh Park Mall in the coming days, said the Vox Cinemas parent company in a statement.
The Vox Cinemas Riyadh Park experience will include four screens located within the largest Magic Planet Family Entertainment Centre in the region.
Content including animation, family-friendly films and educational movies will be available through a portfolio of viewing experiences including the first Imax screen to exhibit movies and Vox Kids, the concept designed especially for young movie fans, said the statement.
Further cinemas currently under design include MAFs Mall of Saudi and City Center Ishbiliyah, with both locations opening in Riyadh in future, with additional announcements on new locations expected soon.
The investment is reportedly the biggest ever made in the Saudi cinema sector.
The Majid Al Futtaim announcement comes a day after Saudi film fans gathered for the first public showing of a movie for 35 years.
“This commitment is expected to create more than 114,000 direct and indirect job opportunities,” remarked Majid Al Futtaim CEO Alain Bejjani.
“Vox Cinemas will join a growing stable of Majid Al Futtaims leading retail, leisure and entertainment brands operating across the Kingdom,” he noted.
Through its partnership with 20th Century Fox, the distribution arm of Majid Al Futtaim Cinemas will also be exclusively distributing Fox content to all cinemas across Saudi Arabia.
