Saudi Arabia's muvi on track to open 307 screens by 2022
RIYADH, April 4, 2021
Saudi Arabia's first homegrown cinema brand, muvi Cinemas KSA, is on target to launch 307 screens across the kingdom over the next 12 months at an investment of SR820 million ($218 million).
This follows a successful 2020, which saw the addition of 8 new multiplexes to the brand’s portfolio.
Over the next one-year, muvi will launch 23 new cineplexes across eight key regions in the kingdom, adding 204 screens and 22,872 seats to its portfolio.
The expansion will see 9 new sites added in Riyadh; 7 in Jeddah; and 2 in Taif and one each in Khobar, Khamis Mushait, and in Al Kharj.
Also, the cities of Buraidah and Uniazah will welcome their first-ever muvi locations. The Saudi brand’s bold expansion efforts, once realized, will bring it total number of seats available for moviegoers to more than 35,000, said the statement from the Saudi cinema brand.
Beginning with its debut launch in 2019 at the Mall of Arabia, in Jeddah, muvi today owns and operates ten cinemas - with a total of 103 screens - across the cities of Riyadh, Jeddah, Damman, Dhahran, Hofuf and Jubail, said a top official.
"Our optimistic expansion plan for 2021 far exceeds our original goals for the year," remarked CEO Sultan Alhokair.
"After seeing the potential opportunities across the kingdom, and in light of the strong box office growth and market share obtained, we’re now confidently in a position to inaugurate 23 new locations - all of which will feature the world’s most cutting-edge cinema technologies," he noted.
"We are proud to play an outsized role in creating new, investment-worthy recreation opportunities in line with Vision 2030’s goal of diversifying the kingdom’s economy," he added.
Among the newly announced locations are three standalone muvi Suites multiplexes - the premium, luxury cinema experience offered by muvi Cinemas - and a new cinema concept branded “muvi Boutique.”
Additionally, more than 15 immersive Premium Large Format (PLF) screens will début at select multiplexes, it added.
According to him, muvi also has secured eight additional locations (currently under design phase) for opening in 2023 and 2024, putting the company on track to exceed 600 total screens by the end of 2024.
This is a total investment of SR2.3 billion ($612 million) which will generate more than 5,000 career opportunities for Saudi nationals.
Alhokair said muvi’s 2021 expansion plans follow a new-found strategic partnership, announced in December last year, with Telfaz11, a Riyadh-based digital-media studio that develops and produces engaging Arabic-language content, primarily for Mena audiences, through a multichannel network that boasts almost 25 million subscribers.- TradeArabia News Service
