RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The audience strolled down the red carpet, fetched their popcorn and soda and filed into the cinema for a night at the movies. But in the capital of ultraconservative Saudi Arabia, it was a watershed moment: the first opening of a commercial movie theater in more than 30 years. The invitation-only screening of the Hollywood blockbuster “Black Panther” on Wednesday was part of a wider social opening in the kingdom championed by the 32-year-old crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. While those events have been well attended, they have reached limited numbers. It is the opening of commercial movie theaters in shopping centers that will really affect the country’s 32 million people.

Source: New York Times April 18, 2018 21:44 UTC