Saudi Arabia Box Office Outperforms Western Markets This Year So Far as ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die’ Becomes Country’s Highest-Grossing Film

variety.com:

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Six years after Saudi Arabia lifted its 35-year ban on cinema, the kingdom continues to make significant strides as the Middle East-North Africa region’s top movie market with audiences flocking to movie theaters lured both by Hollywood blockbusters and a growing number of local hits.

Despite a slight drop-off in box office numbers to date this year, Comscore analysts firmly believe Saudi remains a strong, healthy market, with considerable room for growth.

Ahead of the second edition of the Saudi Film Confex industry conference in the kingdom’s capital of Riyadh that aims to boost the local film industry, Variety spoke to the Comscore team to break down recent figures that show a 5% dip in admissions (13,663,012 in 2024 vs.

14,455,179 in 2023) combined with a 13% drop in box office grosses ($174,431,499 in 2024 vs. $245,486,760 in 2023). The latter is due to a government move to lower ticket prices.