Saudi cinema’s blockbuster rise: Billions invested as industry booms

Cairo: In just a few years, Saudi Arabia’s film industry has transformed into a rising star on the global cinematic stage, fuelled by bold investments and visionary planning as part of the Kingdom’s broader mission to diversify its oil-reliant economy.

What makes the rapidly growing cinema industry so tick and what future is in store for it? Here’s how the Saudi cinema has made big strides guided by an ambitious agenda.

Broadly speaking, the kingdom’s cultural and entertainment sector has flourished since Saudi Arabia launched in 2016 Saudi Vision 2023, an ambitious scheme designed to diversify its economy.

Saudi Vision 2023 envisages the entertainment sector will contribute about 3 per cent of the gross domestic product as well as create 100,000 jobs by the year 2030. The cinema industry underlines these ambitions.

To achieve these objectives, Saudi Arabia has established several government agencies including the Film Commission, the General Entertainment Authority, and the Cultural Development Fund as well as state-of-the-art studios geared towards developing cinema infrastructure and supporting local and international productions.

Saudi Arabia has pumped huge investments into galvanising its film industry and placing it on the global map since the kingdom reopened cinemas in 2018 for the first time in nearly four decades.

The Saudi Entertainment Ventures operates as the investment and executive arm of the Public Investment Fund — the kingdom’s sovereign investment fund ­— with an estimated capital of SR10 billion.

Last year, the Saudi Film Fund with a total capital of SR375 million ($100 million) was launched. With a 40 per cent investment from the Cultural Development Fund, the nascent fund aims to invest in local and international film production.

In the same vein, GEA last year unveiled a plan to set up an investment fund to support filmmaking in the Arab world. The Big Time Fund is tasked with upgrading the Arab content in producing, distributing and making films featuring leading actors in the Arab world.

The state agency has recently announced shooting in Riyadh “7Dogs”, a $40 million thriller touted as the film with the highest budget ever in the history of the Arab cinema.

Emerging as a magnet for renowned filmmakers and cinema icons from across the globe, Saudi Arabia has launched major pageants including the Red Sea Film Festival that debuted in December 2021. The festival’s foundation has supported more than 250 filmmakers around the world, including some who participated in the Cannes Film Festival.

Concomitantly, the number of well-equipped cinema screens has remarkably increased from just 45 in 2018 to 600 screens at 69 theatres across the kingdom in 2023. These efforts have drawn larger numbers of cinema-goers and translated into takings of SR3.7 billion in 2023.

More than 61 million tickets were sold over the period from April 2018 to March last year when a total of 1,971 films, including 45 local productions, were screened across the kingdom, according to government figures.

Films screened at Saudi theatres grossed around SR127 million in the first quarter of this year, recent figures have shown. The takings mark a 4% rise against the first quarter of last year.

Saudi filmmakers have, meanwhile, sought joint production opportunities mainly to overcome funding challenges, make use of partners’ technical and artistic expertise and expand global markets for Saudi films. Saudi presence at major world film festivals is strong too.

Last year, Saudi Arabia and China agreed to cooperate in the film industry.

The Saudi Film Commission inked a memorandum of understanding with the Bona Film Group, a Chinese film producer and distributor.

The pact envisaged cooperation in film distribution including Saudi movies in both countries, training, skill development and negotiations on establishing a joint film production fund.

The governmental commission has organized several tours of other countries where Saudi films are screened.

The “Saudi Film Nights” tours aim at securing global exposure to film productions in the kingdom, supporting Saudi filmmakers, giving them access to a varied international audience and establishing solid links with international cinema forums to exchange expertise.