MUVI CINEMAS KSA DOUBLES DOWN EXPANSION PLANS WITH SAR 820M TO BE INVESTED IN NEXT 12 MONTHS
muvi Cinemas KSA, the first homegrown cinema brand in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is on target to reach 307 screens across the Kingdom over the next 12 months. This follows a successful 2020, which saw the addition of 8 new multiplexes to the brand’s portfolio.
Within the next 12 months, muvi will launch a total of 23 new sites 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, in Khobar, in Khamis Mushait, and in Al Kharj. Also, the cities of Buraidah and Uniazah will welcome their first-ever muvi locations. muvi’s bold expansion efforts, once realized, will bring the brand’s total number of seats available for moviegoers to more than 35,000. muvi, which opened its first location in 2019 at the Mall Of Arabia, in Jeddah, today owns and operates ten cinemas—with 103 screens—across the cities of Riyadh, Jeddah, Damman, Dhahran, Hofuf and Jubail.
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.
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 SAR 2.3 billion which will generate more than 5,000 career opportunities for Saudi nationals.
“Our optimistic expansion plan for 2021 far exceeds our original goals for the year,” muvi CEO Sultan Alhokair says. “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. muvi is 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.”
muvi’s 2021 expansion plans follow a newfound strategic partnership, announced in December 2020, 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. Through the partnership, muvi will provide its cinema platforms to Telfaz11’s locally based content creators; Telfaz11, in turn, will offer its creative services to muvi as the company expands. muvi also forged a partnership last year with the MENA film distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment, forming a new company called Front Row Arabia which will increase distribution of Western, Arabic-language, and Japanese-anime content across the Kingdom.
