A massive new market for Egypt’s film industry: Saudi Arabia announced yesterday it will allow movie theaters to open next year for the first time in more than 35 years. “It’s a stark reversal in a country where movie theaters were shut down in the 1980′s during a wave of ultraconservatism in the country. Many of Saudi Arabia’s clerics view Western movies and even Arabic films made in Egypt and Lebanon as sinful,” the Associated Press says. The first cinemas in Saudi Arabia are expected to open in March 2018. “The kingdom says there will be 300 cinemas with around 2,000 screens built in the country by 2030.” Our first of many questions: Will the cinemas be ‘mixed’ with men and women sitting in the same place?

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