By Rafiq Vayani
DUBAI: The Gulf region will see the development of more than 1,000 new cinema screens in the next three to five years, as developers and cinema operators announced massive investment plan at the first-ever MENA Cinema Forum that took off at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Dubai on Sunday, October 28, 2018.
The region has 1,300 cinema screens in operation. The announcement of 1,000 cinema screens will see more than 2,300 cinema screens in operations in the next five years, with the majority of the new screens to open in Saudi Arabia – which has opened the country for cinema theatres.
“The cinema industry in the GCC is coming of age with Saudi Arabia – the largest Arab economy – opening the market means massive opportunity for all industry stakeholders,” Leila Masinaei, Managing Partner of Great Minds Events, organiser of the MENA Cinema Forum, said.
“Major cinema developers and operators have announced that they will add more than 1,000 new cinema screens in the next five years that will raise the number of screens from 1,300 to 2,300 by 2023.
“Saudi Arabia’s Development Investment Entertainment Company (DIEC) which is armed with a budget of SR10 billion for the development and expansion of the cinema screens across the Kingdom, is acting as a catalyst in the development of the cinema sector that is projected to directly contribute SR1 billion to the Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product (GDP).”
Majid Al Futtaim, which operates 355 cinema screens, is investing Dh2 billion in adding 600 cinema screens in Saudi Arabia.
Cameron Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer of Majid Al Futtaim Cinemas, said, “We will invest US$100 million in a year to open 100 cinema screens – part of the Dh2 billion plan to open 600 cinema screens in Saudi Arabia in the next three to five years.
“Overall, we will operate around 1,200 cinema screens across the region in five years’ time – that’s how fast we are going to expand. With Saudi market opening, we see a lot of opportunities in the region’s cinema and entertainment industry.”
He said, the company is hiring a large number of Saudi nationals to manage the growth in the Kingdom.
“We have opened our first cinema complex in Saudi Arabia in May this year, right after the government announced the opening of the cinema industry for public. We were closely working with the Saudi Arabian Government and as a result were the first operator to open the first cinema screen in the Kingdom,” he said.
“We are employing a large local talent pool to manage our entertainment assets in the Kingdom. We have achieved 98 percent Saudisation in our operations already.”
Novo Cinemas, which operates 124 screens in 10 locations with 19,000 seats, will add more cinemas in the next few years.
“Although I do not have a budget in my mind, but will could potentially operate 1,000 cinema screens five years down the line, depending on how the market evolves,” Debbie Standord-Kristiansen, CEO of Novo Cinemas, told the media on the sidelines of the MENA Cinema Forum.
“Saudi Arabia is obviously the market that will drive the growth and we are talking to our partners to open as many screens as the market demands.”
More than fifty delegates from not only cinema sector but other real estate big players, are attending The MENA Cinema Forum 2018 – the first and only regional business conference on the cinema industry in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) that focuses on the growth opportunities of the region’s cinema industry.
A number of key players from several industries, inspiring business leaders including Jamal Al Sharif, Chairman, Dubai Creative Clusters Authority, Bader Alzahrani, CEO, General Commission for Audiovisual Media, Mishal Al Hokair, Deputy CEO & GM of Entertainment, Alhokair Group, Rahul Bekal, Group Business Planning Manager, Al Tayer Group, Luke Verte, Managing Director, Fox Middle East, Yit-Ching Lee, VP – EMEA Distribution, Paramount, Mae Ghandour, Senior Marketing Manager – Studio & Media Distribution, Walt Disney Company, will lead interesting discussions on investment in cinema industry, current trends, future of the cinema industry in this region, strategic implementation on this industry and competitive operations, at the forthcoming MENA Cinema Forum, to be held at the Grand Hyatt Dubai from October 28 to 29.
The opening ceremony of the forum began with the keynote speeches by Leila Masinaei, Managing Director of GM Events and Chairman Jan Runge, Independent Advisor, Cinema Strategy and Implementation.
Renowned cinema industry experts such as Cameron Mitchell, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Cinemas, Ashish Shukla CEO of Cinepolis Gulf/Gulf Entertainment, Debbie Stanford-Kristiansen, CEO of Novo Cinemas, Amer Bin Ahmed, CEO of Knauf, Middle East and India, Dr. Martin Berlin,Partner, PWC, Dr. Amr Ismail Hegazy, CEO of New Art Line For Media & Cinema Production, Rashed Al Osail, General Manger of Expansions, Cinepolis KSA and P. V. Sunil, Managing Director, Carnival Cinemas, are the chief speakers at the forum emphasising on the future of cinema industry and how best strategies, constructions, materials will enrich the sector.
The Two-day forum covers several key topics with series of interactive presentations, interviews and discussions on regional investments on cinema industry, which will be facilitated by all the global experts. The important topic and highlight issues of conference comprise mainly of economic impact of the growing cinema market in the MENA region, the effect of the Saudi cinema market/expansion across the region and the industry, how can all stakeholders sync efforts to build a successful industry, how to design & construction of cinema theatres and current global trends in cinema industry.
Globally, the number of cinema screens has crossed 150,000 and in the MENA region, the number of cinema screens is expected to jump 38.4 percent as 1,300 new cinema screens to be set up, mainly in Saudi Arabia, according to a research by PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC). PWC’s another research shows that, in the MENA region, box office revenue exceeded US$500 million (Dh1.83 billion). This is about 1.25 percent of the global box office revenue of US$39.92 billion recorded last year, up 3 percent from 2016. More than US$3.54 billion investment in cinema screens across the Gulf is expected to boost the region’s cinema industry.
The eventful conference is full of activities including awards, workshops, break-out meetings, party, site visits and major announcements.
