Saudi Film Industry Revenues Reach USD 245 Million in 2025

Saudi Arabia’s film industry generated USD 245 million in company revenues in 2025, representing a 9% increase from the previous year.

The figures were presented during the session ‘Moscow — Saudi Arabia: A Film Bridge to the Middle East’ at the Third Moscow International Film Week, held from August 24th to 30th.

Cinema attendance also increased, with 18.8 million tickets sold during 2025, up 7% year on year. A total of 538 films were released over the same period, also representing a 7% increase.

Riyadh recorded the largest box office revenue at USD 115.8 million, followed by Makkah at USD 64.5 million and the Eastern Province at USD 38.2 million.

Among individual releases, ‘Al-Zarfa’ led the Saudi box office with SAR 30.7 million, followed by ‘Shabab Al-Bomb 2’ with SAR 27.2 million and ‘Hobal’ with SAR 24.6 million.

The session also highlighted the expansion of film production infrastructure. According to Firas Deni, Director of Physical Production for Scripted Series and Films at MBC Studios, the Kingdom has gone from having one older studio around five years ago to nine large studios alongside several smaller facilities.

Streaming has expanded alongside theatrical production. Shahid, owned by MBC Group, was reported to hold a 22% share of the Middle East and North Africa streaming market, while MBC Group recorded USD 1.4 billion in revenue during 2025.