While box office returns in 2020 will suffer an estimated 80% global drop due to COVID-19, the Kingdom ofis bucking this downward trend, having grown since 2019 to become the Middle East’s top grossing territory this year to date.
“This year our numbers are telling us that the UAE is going to be worth about $60 million, and Saudi is going to be worth $120 million,” Mitchell says. 35-year-old ban on movie theaters prompted a mad dash by exhibitors such as VOX to open shop. In May 2018, the company opened the first Saudi cinema in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.
An interesting aspect of Saudi Arabia’s current box office upswing is that grosses in the country are currently generated from a mere 260 screens — less than half the 614 screens operating in the UAE. Meanwhile, screen growth in Saudi is going forward undeterred, with Vox projecting there will be 340 screens in operation in the country by year’s end, and close to 700 by the end of 2021.