When Saudi Arabia announced it was opening movie theaters for the first time in 35 years back in late 2017, there was excitement from international exhibitors and Hollywood studios who saw a fertile new market of opportunity.
Importantly, 70% of the Kingdom’s 34M population is under 30 and has money to spend. And spend they have, with impressive box office progression.
From April 2018 through late December this year, grosses reached over $454M, per comScore. Even with the Covid shutdown in 2020, that year saw a 26% increase on 2019.
This year so far is already 85% bigger than last at about $230M. Saudi currently ranks as the No. 14 global market (although that comes with an asterisk given Covid impact elsewhere).Says one international
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