Both developments are estimated to be in the region of £12m and will include new shops and retail space for cafes, restaurants and car parking.
One of the schemes is being led by Kier Group. This is for a nine-screen Odeon cinema complex, to be built on land south of Wolverhampton Street, adjacent to a new Premier Inn hotel.
A similar-sized Vue cinema is planned by Midlands-based Cordwell Property Group, for opposite the Tesco store at Wisemore, known as the Littleton Centre.
Walsall's last town centre-based cinema closed in 1993 after being housed in the old Woolworths building at the top of Park Street.
Councillor Adrian Andrew, deputy leader and regeneration portfolio holder, said: "This is fantastic news for Walsall. I've been working for many years to secure a cinema in the Town and we now have the possibility of there being two operators.”
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