Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is seeking to whitewash his foreign image by all possible means.
Well-informed sources revealed that MBS will spend $25m on the SOUNDSTORM pop music festival, which will be held in Riyadh next December.
This came as part of MBS’s systematic policies to promote his foreign image as part of his distraction policy.
MBS earlier declared his intention to invest billions of dollars in Hollywood movies and entertainment.
Well-trusted sources revealed that MBS is aiming to turn Saudi Arabia into another China for Hollywood.
He has already spent billions of dollars to set up a new golf league, invested billions more in video-game publishers, and is now turning his attention to Hollywood.
The country is also offering generous incentives to filmmakers and studios if they shoot there, and these incentives have already enticed a couple of productions, including a film starring Anthony Mackie.
Saudi Arabia’s Cultural Development Fund is poised to launch a new $233m ($879m Saudi Riyal) film industry financing program in the first quarter of 2023, which will be open to both local and international entities.
The new fund joins a raft of initiatives introduced by the Saudi Arabian government to support the building of a film and TV sector in the wake of the lifting of the country’s 35-cinema ban at the end of 2017.
According to the sources, the move was part of a wider strategy to open up the country and move its economy away from a reliance on oil. Other key supports include a 40% rebate for production.
Saudi Arabia established the General Entertainment Authority in tandem with Vision 2030 – the crown prince’s plan to diversify its economy beyond oil, which accounts for more than half of the government’s revenue. Among its goals was to almost double household spending on cultural and entertainment activities within the kingdom.
Riyadh is now seeing more than $64 billion in entertainment investment, with a significant proportion of that going to the live music industry.
The shocking reports on MBS’s huge spending on film making have drowned sharp criticism among Saudis.
MBS was widely named as the “Gamer Prince” after hosting the international eSport gamers forum “Next World” this month.
Much like with Formula One and professional golf, the world’s biggest oil exporter has in recent years leveraged its immense wealth to assert itself on the eSports stage, hosting glitzy conferences and snapping up established tournament organisers, the report said.
In January, the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund launched the Savvy Gaming Group, which acquired top eSports firms ESL Gaming and FACEIT in deals reportedly worth a total of $1.5 billion.
