Black Panther has already amassed more than $1.2 billion dollars since launching in February and will herald Saudi Arabia’s long-awaited return to the cinema world. This will make it the first film to screen to the public in a cinema following the lifting of the country’s 35-year cinema ban.
The news makes Disney and its regional distribution partner in the Middle East, Italia Film, the first to officially release a movie in the kingdom as it undergoes dramatic reforms.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film will be given a gala premiere on 18 April in Riyadh at the first AMC-branded cinema. The 620-seater theatre is a converted symphony hall in the King Abdullah Financial District and is the first of hundreds of cinemas planned to open in the next decade.
