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Imax CEO Richard Gelfond on Launching the Company’s First Arabic Film and Expanding Its Footprint in Saudi Arabia and the MENA Region (EXCLUSIVE)


Imax CEO Richard Gelfond on the first Arabic Imax film and expanding his footprint in Saudi Arabia and the MENA region.

The announcement was made by Imax CEO Richard Gelfond during the grand opening on Wednesday of a new Imax theater in the Saudi city of Jeddah, which featured screenings of “Gladiator II” and “Moana 2.” The event took place on the eve of the Red Sea Film Festival, which will open Thursday with Gelfond in attendance. Below, Gelfond speaks with Variety about the significance of the first Arabic-language Imax release and the crucial role it plays in driving the brand’s expansion in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. We’ve been exploring different partnerships for the last few years, and we landed on this one with Muvi Cinemas’ studio side, and this particular actor [Ibrahim Hajjaj] has been successful before [in smash hit Saudi wrestling comedy “Sattar.” So we think this is a really good place to start and will really help improve our box office across the whole Middle East.

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