Saudi Arabia to allow movie theatres after 35-year ban

It is a part of a broad campaign by the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to transform Saudi society

In the latest in a series of gestures toward modernisation that would once have seemed improbable, Saudi Arabia announced on Monday that it would allow commercial movie theatres 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.

Although satellite television and video downloads have made the ban on commercial theatres