BEIRUT _ Saudi Arabia announced Monday that it will allow movie theaters to open for the first time in more than three decades, part of a broad modernization drive pushed by the conservative kingdom's reform-minded crown prince.
The announcement was hailed as historic by the American exhibition industry, but also raised questions about the kinds of restrictions and censorship that the kingdom is likely to impose.
Licensing regulations are being finalized with the first multiplexes slated to open in March, the Ministry of Culture and Information said in a statement. There are plans to build hundreds of movie theaters throughout the kingdom, including the kinds of upscale venues seen in cities such as Los Angeles, New York and London.
The move is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's so-called Vision 2030, a strategy to open up the desert kingdom's economy, reduce its dependence on oil and ease the suffocating social strictures imposed on its mostly young population.
Plans have also been announced to lift a ban on women driving next year, permit concerts and comedy shows, and rein in the feared religious police, which is responsible for ensuring morality and adherence to Islamic law.
"Opening cinemas will act as a catalyst for economic growth and diversification," the Saudi minister of culture and information, Awwad bin Saleh Alawwad, said in Monday's statement. "By developing the broader cultural sector, we will create new employment and training opportunities, as well as enriching the kingdom's entertainment options."
In order to survive, luxury cinemas will have to tap into the oil-rich country's large concentration of wealth and strong consumer class, as well as young citizens who are used to watching movies on their phones.
"I think there's definitely demand for movie theaters," said Eric Handler, a media and entertainment analyst at MKM Partners.
"The question is how much Hollywood content or other content from throughout the world will be let in. Will it be like China, where they're very restrictive?"
China currently imposes strict quotas on the number of foreign movies that can be shown on domestic screens and has imposed censorship laws that restrict certain kinds of content, such as violence or political messages. Recent movies to be blocked from China include "Deadpool" and "Suicide Squad."
The Saudi government said films shown at the new cinemas would have to conform with the country's values and with Sharia laws, but didn't elaborate on how it would censor content. The country is dominated by a strict form of Islam where nudity and sex would almost certainly be subject to censorship.
Regional politics could enter into the equation. Lebanon recently banned Warner Bros.' "Wonder Woman" because actress Gal Gadot is from Israel. The blockbuster movie was also banned in other countries, including Qatar and Tunisia.
Some American cinema owners are already developing plans for screens in Saudi Arabia, including upscale venues, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners, an American trade organization.
The association said a delegation has been in the capital, Riyadh, over the last week meeting with various government officials in anticipation of the announcement.
"We are excited to witness the opening of the Saudi cinema market. Movies are one of the great shared pleasures that highlight our common humanity," John Fithian, president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Theatre Owners, said in a statement.
"The growing and young population of the kingdom is hungry for the cinematic experience. We anticipate that the Saudi market will grow quickly."
Movie theaters have been barred in Saudi Arabia since the early 1980s, when the kingdom began enforcing an ultraconservative version of Islam that discourages public entertainment and mixing between men and women.
That has not prevented Saudis from watching films online or on satellite TV. Many also travel to nearby countries such as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to get their entertainment fix.
News that the ban would be lifted was met with rejoicing by Saudi movie buffs, who posted images of buckets of popcorn on their social media accounts.
"It is a beautiful day in #SaudiArabia!" tweeted Haifaa al-Manour, the Saudi director who in 2012 released the first full-length feature shot entirely in the kingdom, "Wadjda."
Another Twitter user uploaded a joke movie poster for a film titled "Cinema 500km," mocking Saudis' inability to go to the movies with the tagline "Bring your passport, we're going to the cinema."
"Now it's time we say: Cinema 500 meters," he wrote.
However, the move will likely face pushback from powerful clerics who give the monarchy legitimacy.
The grand mufti, Saudi Arabia's highest-ranking religious authority, has labeled cinemas "a depravity" and warned of their potential to corrupt public morals.
