Saudis reopen cinemas - but don’t expect mixed seating and sex scenes

Saudi Arabia is lifting a decades-old ban on cinemas and will allow both men and women in the audience - but media commentators don’t expect to see couples sitting together watching steamy thrillers any time soon.

“Sex and nudity will almost certainly be barred, and theaters could be required to segregate women and families from all-male audiences,” the Los Angeles Times says.

Karim Atassi, who handles business development for Middle East cinema chain Cinemacity, told Variety that the complexes they hope to build in Saudi Arabia would have separate seating sections for men and for women and children.

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The Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information said this week that it would lift the ban on cinemas, which has been in place for more than 35 years, by March 2018. Cinemas have been been illegal since the early 1980s when Islamic laws were tightened in response to the threat of growing fundamentalism in the kingdom, says the Financial Times.

While the move was praised by the American film industry, questions have arisen over the level of restrictions and censorship that the kingdom is likely to impose.