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Saudi Arabia to Reduce Cinema License Fees to Increase Economic Contribution

The Saudi government is working to stimulate the cinema sector and increase its contribution to the economy. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi government is working to stimulate the cinema sector and increase its contribution to the economy. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia to Reduce Cinema License Fees to Increase Economic Contribution

The Saudi government is working to stimulate the cinema sector and increase its contribution to the economy. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi government is working to stimulate the cinema sector and increase its contribution to the economy. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Saudi government has presented a package of incentive programs to enhance the sustainability of the cinema sector, which includes reducing the financial fees for operating licenses for permanent and temporary cinemas, in a move that increases the economic contribution of companies and stimulates greater entry of the private sector into the entertainment field.

Since the opening of the first movie theater in the Kingdom in April 2018 until March 2024, Saudi cinema achieved revenues of about SAR 3.7 billion ($986 million), while over 61 million tickets have been sold, revealed recent figures from the General Authority for Media Regulation.

CEO of the Saudi Film Commission Engineer Abdullah Al-Qahtani stressed the continued efforts to stimulate the film industry by encouraging private sector companies operating cinemas to offer discounts and promotions to the public with the aim of promoting film culture.

He explained that the reduction of the financial fees for cinema licenses and ticket prices was in line with the international average, and to support cinema companies in the sustainability and growth of the sector.

Specialists told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Film Commission’s decision was aimed at boosting the role of the private sector and enhancing its sustainability, which would contribute to reducing ticket prices and attracting more cinemagoers.

Former head of the National Entertainment Committee at the Federation of Saudi Chambers, and investor in the entertainment sector Al-Waleed Al-Baltan said the decision will encourage companies to enter the Saudi market and add more cinema screens, given the large demand from the public.

The move supports the capabilities of the private sector and allows it to offer competitive prices for movie tickets and promotions, which boosts the economic contribution of these companies, he underlined.

General Manager and CEO of Abdul Mohsen Al Hokair Company Majed Al Hokair explained that companies operating in the cinema sector will provide affordable ticket prices.

Since its establishment in 2020, the Saudi Film Commission has worked to promote the film sector in the Kingdom, by developing the relevant infrastructure and regulatory framework, encourage financing and investment, ensure the sector’s access to local talent, stimulate local production, and attract international production.

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Video Game Performers Will Go on Strike Over Artificial Intelligence Concerns 

SAG-AFTRA signage is seen on the side of the headquarters in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 10, 2023. (AP)
SAG-AFTRA signage is seen on the side of the headquarters in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 10, 2023. (AP)
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Video Game Performers Will Go on Strike Over Artificial Intelligence Concerns 

SAG-AFTRA signage is seen on the side of the headquarters in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 10, 2023. (AP)
SAG-AFTRA signage is seen on the side of the headquarters in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 10, 2023. (AP)

Hollywood's video game performers announced they would go on strike Thursday, throwing part of the entertainment industry into another work stoppage after talks for a new contract with major game studios broke down over artificial intelligence protections.

The strike — the second for video game voice actors and motion capture performers under the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists — will begin at 12:01 a.m. Friday. The move comes after nearly two years of negotiations with gaming giants, including divisions of Activision, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Co., over a new interactive media agreement.

SAG-AFTRA negotiators say gains have been made over wages and job safety in the video game contract, but that the two sides remained split over the regulation of generative AI. A spokesperson for the video game producers, Audrey Cooling, said the studios offered AI protections, but SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee said that the studios’ definition of who constitutes a "performer" is key to understanding the issue of who would be protected.

"The industry has told us point blank that they do not necessarily consider everyone who is rendering movement performance to be a performer that is covered by the collective bargaining agreement," SAG-AFTRA Chief Contracts Officer Ray Rodriguez said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. He said some physical performances are being treated as "data."

Without guardrails, game companies could train AI to replicate an actor’s voice, or create a digital replica of their likeness without consent or fair compensation, the union said.

"We strike as a matter of last resort. We have given this process absolutely as much time as we responsibly can," Rodriguez told reporters. "We have exhausted the other possibilities, and that is why we’re doing it now."

Cooling said the companies' offer "extends meaningful AI protections."

"We are disappointed the union has chosen to walk away when we are so close to a deal, and we remain prepared to resume negotiations," she said.

Andi Norris, an actor and member of the union's negotiating committee, said that those who do stunt work or creature performances would still be at risk under the game companies' offer.

"The performers who bring their body of work to these games create a whole variety of characters, and all of that work must be covered. Their proposal would carve out anything that doesn’t look and sound identical to me as I sit here, when, in truth, on any given week I am a zombie, I am a soldier, I am a zombie soldier," Norris said. "We cannot and will not accept that a stunt or movement performer giving a full performance on stage next to a voice actor isn’t a performer."

The global video game industry generates well over $100 billion dollars in profit annually, according to game market forecaster Newzoo. The people who design and bring those games to life are the driving force behind that success, SAG-AFTRA said.

Members voted overwhelmingly last year to give leadership the authority to strike. Concerns about how movie studios will use AI helped fuel last year’s film and television strikes by the union, which lasted four months.

The last interactive contract, which expired in November 2022, did not provide protections around AI but secured a bonus compensation structure for voice actors and performance capture artists after an 11-month strike that began in October 2016. That work stoppage marked the first major labor action from SAG-AFTRA following the merger of Hollywood’s two largest actors unions in 2012.

The video game agreement covers more than 2,500 "off-camera (voiceover) performers, on-camera (motion capture, stunt) performers, stunt coordinators, singers, dancers, puppeteers, and background performers," according to the union.

Amid the tense interactive negotiations, SAG-AFTRA created a separate contract in February that covered independent and lower-budget video game projects. The tiered-budget independent interactive media agreement contains some of the protections on AI that video game industry titans have rejected. Games signed to an interim interactive media agreement, tiered-budget independent interactive agreement or interim interactive localization agreement are not part of the strike, the union said.