The Saudi film industry has stumbled into life since a decades-long cinema ban was lifted in 2018. Now hopes are building that the kingdom has found a vehicle to bring Saudis flocking to the movies en masse for the first time: a film about Bedouins on the eve of the first Gulf war.
Hobal, released earlier this year, tells the story of a mother’s quest to treat her sick daughter despite the conservative family patriarch insisting they stay away from corrupting modernity. The film has grossed over $6mn so far and looks set to beat the box office record for a domestic film of $10.8mn, according to the country’s media regulator.
When cinemas opened for the first time since 1983 as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s liberalising reforms, the beleaguered global film industry hoped the petrostate’s 33mn citizens could bring much-needed revenue from one of the last untapped wealthy markets on the planet.
The world’s biggest cinema chain AMC Entertainment Holdings opened Saudi Arabia’s first theatre, with its chief executive saying a year earlier the country “could approach up to USD $1 billion in annual box office sales”.
Yet after peaking at $249mn in 2022, Saudi Arabia’s box office returns fell in 2023 and AMC, which is under siege from streaming platforms, sold its holdings in the Gulf monarchy that year. By late November last year, it had taken in $200mn, suggesting another year of decline or stagnation in 2024.
The industry hopes domestic movies that speak to the lives of ordinary Saudis will bring new viewers into cinemas.
“There is a lack of trust between viewers and local filmmakers. We need a string of true box office hits to gain the faith of Saudi audiences,” said Wael Abumansour, head of the Riyadh-based Telfaz11 Studios. “It is strategically important to expand the audience by experimenting with different genres. Investors want to see that this sector is growing in order to deploy more financial resources.”
Hobal has tried to attract new viewers through an innovative marketing campaign with staggered release dates across the country and the cast regularly travelling for openings to small towns where new rural viewers are drawn in by the Bedouin protagonists.
In some places they gave discounted tickets to women over 50, who have not been big cinemagoers in Saudi Arabia but may be intrigued by the film’s matriarch.
Saudis had to travel abroad to go to cinemas before Prince Mohammed reversed the ban in a wave of reforms that allowed women to drive and brought big sports events and film stars to the kingdom.
Saudi films are still often dwarfed by Hollywood releases and movies made in Egypt, which has a long history of exporting entertainment to the Gulf, along with established stars.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die became the biggest film in Saudi box office history after grossing $23.5mn last year, helped by the fact that its lead actors Will Smith and Martin Lawrence travelled to the kingdom for its premiere.
Unlike the overall Saudi market, ticket sales for films made domestically were growing but comprised just 10 per cent of total receipts for January to late November last year.
The country’s film commission tried to stem the decline in overall attendance by cutting licensing fees last April, which trickled down to a reduction in ticket prices. The move was applauded by Saudi filmmakers but made little meaningful difference to sales.
Nevertheless, people in the industry remain optimistic about the outlook for show business in the country, with a slate of highly anticipated local productions, including the upcoming film Unidentified by pioneering female director Haifaa al-Mansour.
“This year will be a critical one for Saudi films,” said local critic Ahmed al-Ayyad. “There is a whole generation of filmmakers who grew up in the era of cinematic openness, and a whole generation of audiences who do not remember what it was like to travel to Bahrain or Dubai.”
