Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The General Commission for Audiovisual Media (GCAM) announced that as of now revenues have exceeded SR535 million since the resumption of cinema activity in Saudi Arabia. So far, more than 10 million tickets have been sold.

The commission confirmed that the Saudi cinema sector is the largest one in the region, as it is moving at an accelerated pace towards achieving the goals of Saudi Vision 2030. The number of seats in 69 Saudi movie theatres has exceeded 64,000, and there are more than seven operators, in over 20 Saudi cities, and the most prominent among them are Vox Cinemas and Muvi Cinemas.

Saudi movies have proved their strong and effective presence, as the number of screened films reached more than 33. The GCAM revealed that the highest-grossing film at the box office is the American action drama film “Top Gun: Maverick,” of which more than 1.2 million tickets sold, and revenues crossed SR84 million.

It is noteworthy that the Saudi cinema sector recorded a growth of 28 percent during the second quarter of 2023. According to the recent business sector bulletin of the Ministry of Commerce, there has been a surge in the commercial records of the promising sectors in the Kingdom, such as the cinema, entertainment and art.

The bulletin stated that the commercial records of the film production sector reached more than 1700, compared to over 1300 commercial records by the end of the second quarter of 2022.