Gulf Driving Innovation in The Cinema Going Experience

Cinema executives looking to get cinema fans back into the cinemas after COVID-19 might do well to pay attention to some recent developments in the UAE. The Middle East’s first ever snow cinema is back in business in a sign of post-pandemic COVID recovery. The facility which allows cinema goers to enjoy a film curled up in blankets in front of a toasty is attached to Ski Dubai – an indoor ski resort located in the Dubai Mall.

First opened in 2005 the site features an indoor mountain (equivalent to a 25-story building) and is home to much more than just skiing. Visitors can also have a penguin experience and have other cold weather fun.  The site is owned by the Majid Al Futtaim Group which is also one of the largest cinema operators in the region as well which makes the pairing of cinema with an indoor ski slope a natural pairing.

Indeed, the indoor ski slope is a popular attraction for locals and tourists alike in a country where the daytime temperatures can average between (101 °F to 108 °F) during the summer months. Yet, the facility is surprisingly light on environmental impact.

“If you look at Mall of the Emirates’ Ski Dubai or the one that you’re going to be having in our Riyadh project, these are actually LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified assets,” said Alain Bejjani, the CEO Of the Majid Al Futtaim Group said in an interview on the Arab News program “Frankly Speaking”.

In the same interview Bejjani announced plans to open a similar ski slope in to be built “Mall of Saudi” which is under development in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. He also pointed out that his company is set to sponsor the Red Sea Film Festival is set to begin next week which will be the kingdom’s first full-service film festival including Hollywood celebrities like Said Tagamoui have been invited to attend.

Vox Cinemas is leading innovation in the cinema industry in other ways. This summer it unveiled a film where viewers could vote on plot points with the aid of App. There are 180 decision points in the film — 12 of which are major ones in the action thriller Late Shift.

“We’ve been putting a lot of technology and investment to make it as sustainable as possible. So, when you look at the actual slope, it is within a fridge that preserves heat and preserves cold, so minimizes the heat going out and preserves cold inside. And we have a lot of technology to make sure that we use the least electricity possible and generate and have the lowest possible carbon footprint,” Bejjani said in the same interview on “Frankly Speaking.”

Of course, for now most of the content coming out of these cinemas comes from outside the Middle East but, Bejjani also signaled his plans for the region to produce more content domestically.

“Saudi Arabia is a fantastic market for local content, whether it’s Arabic content, whether it’s Khaliji or Egyptian content, and this is where we need and we are driving a lot of effort to make sure that we enable that local content much more,” he said.

Mykel Parish Ajaere

President, Pan-African Film Consortium/ Partner, Meta Cinema Forum Dubai/ Co-founder, Pan-African Film Festival Dubai

Posted by Samuel Pratt