News 24 | Despite the effects of Corona … the first kingdom in the Middle East in “cinema” income

At a time when global cinema revenues are expected to decline by as much as 80% in 2020, revenues will increase in the Kingdom, at the top of the list of the most profitable countries in the Middle East, after the growth seen in 2019.

Figures released by the META Cinema Exhibitors Forum revealed that the Kingdom this year overtook the UAE to become the region’s most profitable, after cinema ticket sales reached over $ 73 million over the past year. Last 40 weeks.

This means a $ 2 million increase in 2020 box office revenue, compared to the same period in 2019, while the UAE achieved $ 51 million in revenue, a quarter of what they achieved in 2019.

VOX Cinemas CEO Cameron Mitchell said the kingdom is the only cinema market in the world to grow in 2020.

Mitchell confirmed that the Saudi market has increased its profits by around 4% since the start of this year, despite shutting down cinemas from March to mid-June.

Fox Cinemas CEO added that he expects 8% growth by the end of 2020, noting that Saudi Arabia’s share of the Middle East cinema market was $ 110 million in 2019 , out of a total of $ 600 million, excluding Indian and Arab films, and some content. The independent.

He added that the kingdom’s share this year is expected to be $ 120 million from the film market, half of Hollywood’s estimated share this year for the Middle East at around $ 220 million.

While analyst David Hancock believes the Kingdom has become a milestone in the region’s film market, overtaking the United Arab Emirates, expecting display market growth in the next 3-5 years to billions of dollars, especially since he expects the world to recover from the effects of the pandemic (Covid-19).

He stressed that the Kingdom is on the right track, to become the dominant market in the region, and one of the 10 or 15 largest markets in the world, noting that one of the interesting aspects is the fact that the numbers achieved by the Kingdom come from cinemas that do not exceed 260 display screens, which is less than half the number in the Emirates.

It expects there will be 340 screens in service by the end of 2020, while the number of screens will reach nearly 700 by the end of 2021.