Why is Oman one of the worst places to go to enjoy a nice movie?
A question that has never been answered for as long as there was cinemas in the history of the Sultanate of Oman.
One of the main reasons is because of the censorship board that snips away the fragments and takes far too long to release the movie from the Ministry of Heritage & Culture (previously, now the mission lies upon the Ministry of Information's boy's shoulders) and boy do they ever take their time at that task (God knows what else they end up doing while watching those 'indecent' scenes!).
Another reason is that there isn't much of a competition here in Oman in the cinema businesses since we only have 2 companies who look upon that sector and both of them apply their monopolistic prices for what seems to be 'the best theatre experience anyone in Oman can have' when it would seem that having to a watch the DVD back at home with a home theatre system is a better idea to check out the movie at your own pace without any nuisance.
Another two reasons that don't go hand in hand is the fact that you now the luxury to get your own home theatre system and watch your favorite movie by either buying or renting off some local video shop, which, somehow is able to get the latest movies at a much quicker pace than the cinema business. Thinking back on this though, isn't the cinema company in it for the business or what?
The nuisance. No one can deny that in the past and perhaps still in the present the Omani population of both sexes have made our cinema experience more wilder than the Wild Wadi in Dubai by letting us know how much they love the movie, by either talking on the phone; sending messages through the local network or blue tooth, or even by whistling away at some of the hot scenes to show us how mature they can actually be. A simple measure can be done to avoid all of this. Either hike up the prices or pass out a law that only a certain age limit can be able to watch a certain movie by showing their ID cards and increasing the 'silencing force' existence within the parameters.
Last but not least, the timings. You would think after such a long time an established cinema company would understand what are the most suitable times for a certain movie - which, by the way, isn't by only showing it in one show one day and two shows on the rest of the week. And haven't they ever heard of morning time viewing? And what about Ramadhan? Why is the Ministry of Awqaf so strict on letting the public watch what they want to watch during the day time? And don't use the excuse: because they would have their fast broken if they watch anything indecent - because they already do that on their own during the day and in their homes.
Grow up Oman.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
grow up Oman
Posted by Sleepless In Muscat at 22:17
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3 comments:
The censors are actually quite efficient in approving movies for release. Most movies are approved the same week that they arrive. When it comes to big blockbuster movies, the print often arrives in Oman the beginning of the week and gets approved by Monday and released to the public on Wednesday.
It's the stupid cinemas that don't have enough screens to cope with all the movies that they receive so they stockpile them waiting for windows.
I remember way back when they started to build the City Centre, Muscat and there were big rumors of having the CineStar chain of cinemas opening up a branch and how everyone was so dissapointed that it never was the case. As it turned out, the City Centre Muscat became yet another 'mall' in Oman with much reason for young local population to roam, google, and exchange phone numbers with members of the other sex.
Why they don't open up more cinemas, I do not know.
Cinemas are really expensive to build. If you have a ready building and you convert part of it into a cinema like what Ruwi Cinema did, the cost is a minimum of RO. 50,000 per screen just for the equipment without considering the refitting, civil work and furniture. If you build a cinema from scratch, it costs about $1 million per screen on average.
It's a huge gamble to spend that kind of money on a cinema in Oman when people still look at the movies as a weekend activity. Cinemas make their money in the weekend and struggle to cover their overheads the rest of the week.
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