Saudi Arabia’s box office hits $238m sales in 2021: Comscore

Saudi Arabia in 2021 continued its exponential growth as a theatrical box office market with revenue totalling $238m for the year, a 95% increase compared with 2020 when the total intake had been $122m, according to the latest figures provided by Comscore.

Saudi Arabia has now consolidated its status as the West Asia region’s top theatrical market in terms of gross box office revenue, surpassing the UAE, which achieved a box office of $130m for the year 2021.

Saudi cinemas witnessed the release of 340 new films in 2021, up from 222 films in 2020. The top-grossing 2021 title was Egyptian comedy Waafet Reggaala (A Stand Worthy of Men), which pulled over $15m, making it the country’s top grosser ever since moviegoing was reinstated in January 2018.

Just like in many other countries, in Saudi the top-grossing Hollywood title in 2021 was Spider-Man: No Way Home which pulled $11.2m, followed by Cruella, which grossed $9.1m, and Guy Ritchie’s Wrath of Man, which made $8.3m in Saudi cinemas.

Egyptian comedy, Mesh Ana (Not Me), weighed in at No. 5 on the 2021 Saudi box office chart with an $8.2m take, while another release from Egypt Mama Hamel (Mom Is Pregnant), came in at No. 10, pulling $5.9m.

The surge in box office revenues in Saudi Arabia coincides with the doubling of the number of cinemas. The number of multi-screen movie theatres in Saudi Arabia grew from 33 locations at the start of 2021 to 53 venues by December 2021, an increase of 20 new locations, according to Comscore.

Saudi Arabia aims to increase the number of cinema screens from 430 screens to 2,600 screens by 2030, Business Development Manager at the Saudi Ministry of Investment, Bahaa Abdulmajeed said recently during the Red Sea Film Festival. Several analysts, including PwC, see Saudi as becoming a billion-dollar movie market in the next few years.

Currently, Saudi-owned Muvi Cinemas operates the highest number of local cinemas, with 21 locations across the kingdom.