ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Angry Birds Movie premiered in the Kurdistan Region's capital city Erbil on Tuesday night. Sponsored by Rudaw, the premiere screening of the movie comes ahead of limited screenings in the US and France. The movie will not be officially released in the US until May 20th. “We normally do movie premieres, but this one is very significant given the movie - it’s very famous. Millions of people know the game it is based on, it’s a trademark,” Suleiman Madi, the Operation Manager of Empire Cinema in Erbil's Family Mall, told Rudaw English. Madi believes that the premiering of such a movie in Kurdistan bodes well for the image of the Region. “Events like this help boost Kurdistan’s image around the world,” he said. “Especially since this is such a major movie, and having a major movie premiere in Kurdistan ahead of the rest of the region is a testament to the stability of this region. Something that sets it aside from other parts of Iraq, where, as you know, people mostly hear about war and the terror threat from ISIS.” “These kinds of events are also very helpful for the economy and for tourism since they give a good impression for foreigners since they will realize that Kurdistan is not a war zone but in fact a nice and safe area to live which is mostly away from these problems,” he added. His sentiment was echoed by a young university student attendee at the premiere named Saraiya who pointed out that, “Having such a movie premiere in Erbil is good for Kurds since it shows that this region is normal and peaceful. This is a good thing since a negative image of Kurdistan can be harmful for us.” Angry Birds is an animated 3D computer-animated American-Finnish movie made with a budget of $80 million. The plot is based on the popular iPhone mobile phone game of the same name which was released in 2009.
