Saudi Arabia to lead Middle East box office sales growth: report

Saudi Arabia’s historic decision to lift the ban on cinemas in the Kingdom will help the Middle East’s box office sales grow manifold from $500 million currently, according to research by the MENA Cinema Forum, to be held in Dubai this month.

Citing a report by PwC, the research said box office revenue exceeded $500 million (AED 1.83 billion) in the MENA region in 2017.

“The box office turnover in the MENA region would have reached $500-$550 million in 2017,” said Dr. Martin Berlin, Partner and Global Deals Real Estate Leader at PWC. “There is a strong growth pipeline of new cinemas in the region, primarily driven by the opening of Saudi Arabian market.

“The biggest opportunities will come from the opening of the Saudi market, followed by the opportunity from sophisticated pricing mechanisms where cinema operators offer price differentiations based on particular timings and days – to help increase box office revenues. Additionally, premium screening is another way of optimizing revenues,” he said.

At least 300 cinemas are expected to open by 2030 in Saudi Arabia, contributing $24 billion to the economy and creating 30,000 jobs.

According to the report, the Middle East's media and entertainment Industry is expected to grow to $35 billion by 2020.