Saudi Arabia Allows Movie Theaters After 35 Year Ban From Hell

LONDON — In the latest in a series of gestures toward modernization that would once have seemed improbable, Saudi Arabia announced on Monday that it would allow commercial movie theaters to open for the first time in more than 35 years.

The moves to allow access by early 2018, part of a broad campaign by the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to transform Saudi society, followed measures that would give women the right to drive and to attend soccer games, and that would allow concerts and other forms of public entertainment.

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We can all rejoice for the fact that Saudi Arabia is opening movie theaters for the first time in 35 years. Look this is a win for everybody. Movies are good for people, you've got to give folks an excuse to go out and drown their sorrows in fantasy and their popcorns in butter.

I LOVE going to the movies. I'll go alone as quickly as I'll go with friends. I love going alone- you don't have to worry about finding the perfect combination of seats to fit your group's size and various preferences, and more importantly you don't have to wrestle for popcorn position with your compatriots. Popcorn etiquette is a real thing (we'll save this for a later blog this week), and any refusal to follow it can and will ruin a movie-going experience. Movies are great- and especially in our day and age, it's hard to appreciate them without a million things to distract you. I'm happiest in the middle of a dark  theater, no cell service, tub of popcorn and a gallon of soda, with absolutely nothing to pay attention to except for what's unfolding in front of me, and nobody around me to ruin it.

So good for you Saudi Arabia, way to give the people what they want. Movie theaters are good, clean, fun- great for the whole country. To be honest, it's absurd you've let your people go this long without this commodity. In fact, that's insanity. I'll be nice since you've relented after all of these years, but that would have literally been my number one reason for not living in Saudi Arabia. Do your citizens even know what they've been missing? You mean none of them saw Lord of the Rings in theaters? Any of the Fast and Furious series? What the fuck Saudi Arabia? You now have an obligation to re-screen every great movie that's come out in the last 25 years. That's not a choice, it's an order. You owe it to your people. And hey, if they actually do that then consider me Saudi Arabia bound, the fun stock is rising!