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01-16-2018, 09:29 PM
Saudi Arabia just lifted its cinema ban, and well, the first movie screened was an interesting choice
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Saudi Arabia has just lifted a 35-year-old ban on cinemas, and picked an, uh, interesting movie for the first screening.
Ready? The Emoji Movie. Yep.
The very first film hitting cinema screens in three and a half decades was 2017's animated feature about a city populated by talking emojis. It's currently sitting at 9 percent on Rotten Tomatoes — although, granted, it has a 39 percent audience score. And it's targeted at children.
SEE ALSO: 'The Emoji Movie' has a lovely, timely message. It's not evil. Ignore the meanies. (http://mashable.com/2017/07/28/emoji-movie-critics-reviews-hate-make-me-sad/)
But hey, let's celebrate the fact that it was shown at all.
The conservative kingdom's Ministry of Culture and Information agreed to issue licenses for cinemas (http://mashable.com/2017/12/11/saudi-arabia-cinemas-open/) on Dec. 11, 2017. According to Reuters (https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-cinema/saudi-arabia-begins-screening-films-after-decades-long-ban-lifted-idUKKBN1F40QS), the country's first permanent theatres could open as early as March 2018, and the authorities are sponsoring temporary cinemas for now — one, in Jeddah's cultural hall, apparently has a popcorn machine. Films will be censored to adhere to the "moral values" of the kingdom — exactly what these censored films look like remains to be seen. Read more... (http://mashable.com/2018/01/16/saudi-arabia-cinema-ban-lift-the-emoji-movie/)
More about Saudi Arabia (http://mashable.com/category/saudi-arabia/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial), Cinema (http://mashable.com/category/cinema/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial), Ban (http://mashable.com/category/ban/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial), The Emoji Movie (http://mashable.com/category/the-emoji-movie/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial), and Entertainment (http://mashable.com/entertainment/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial)http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Mashable/~4/XcOfZIexXOQ
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Saudi Arabia has just lifted a 35-year-old ban on cinemas, and picked an, uh, interesting movie for the first screening.
Ready? The Emoji Movie. Yep.
The very first film hitting cinema screens in three and a half decades was 2017's animated feature about a city populated by talking emojis. It's currently sitting at 9 percent on Rotten Tomatoes — although, granted, it has a 39 percent audience score. And it's targeted at children.
SEE ALSO: 'The Emoji Movie' has a lovely, timely message. It's not evil. Ignore the meanies. (http://mashable.com/2017/07/28/emoji-movie-critics-reviews-hate-make-me-sad/)
But hey, let's celebrate the fact that it was shown at all.
The conservative kingdom's Ministry of Culture and Information agreed to issue licenses for cinemas (http://mashable.com/2017/12/11/saudi-arabia-cinemas-open/) on Dec. 11, 2017. According to Reuters (https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-cinema/saudi-arabia-begins-screening-films-after-decades-long-ban-lifted-idUKKBN1F40QS), the country's first permanent theatres could open as early as March 2018, and the authorities are sponsoring temporary cinemas for now — one, in Jeddah's cultural hall, apparently has a popcorn machine. Films will be censored to adhere to the "moral values" of the kingdom — exactly what these censored films look like remains to be seen. Read more... (http://mashable.com/2018/01/16/saudi-arabia-cinema-ban-lift-the-emoji-movie/)
More about Saudi Arabia (http://mashable.com/category/saudi-arabia/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial), Cinema (http://mashable.com/category/cinema/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial), Ban (http://mashable.com/category/ban/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial), The Emoji Movie (http://mashable.com/category/the-emoji-movie/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial), and Entertainment (http://mashable.com/entertainment/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial)http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Mashable/~4/XcOfZIexXOQ