Photo: Collected
The trend of popularity and commercial success of local films continues in Saudi Arabia. The earnings of Saudi films at the country’s box office this year have exceeded 100 million riyals. The country’s local films have touched this milestone for the second consecutive year. Saudi Film Commission data say about 12.7 percent of total box office earnings up to mid-September came from Saudi films.
These statistics indicate audiences’ interest in local stories and productions and the growing presence of Saudi films in cinemas. According to the Film Commission’s latest weekly figures, Saudi Arabia’s box office earned 16 million riyals from 13 to 19 September. During this period, more than 329,200 tickets were sold for 59 films. Three Saudi films are currently running in the country’s cinemas — the action film ‘7 Dogs’, the action-comedy ‘Aks Sir’ and the animated feature ‘Azzam: The Butterfly Effect’.
This year’s success has maintained the continuity of last year. According to the Saudi Film Commission’s box office report for 2025, 11 Saudi films earned 122.6 million riyals that year by selling 28 lakh (2.8 million) tickets.
A total of 538 films were screened in the country in 2025, of which the share of Saudi films was about 3 percent. Yet about 13 percent of total box office earnings came from local films. Three Saudi films found a place in the list of the 10 highest-grossing films that year — ‘Al-Zarfa’, ‘Shabab Al-Bomb 2’ and ‘Hobal’.
This progress of the Saudi film industry is part of the changes of the past decade in the country’s culture and entertainment sector. With the launch of ‘Saudi Vision 2030’ in 2016, culture and entertainment came to be considered important sectors of social and economic development. The ‘General Entertainment Authority’ was established in the same year to regulate and develop the entertainment sector.
After a break of several decades, commercial cinema halls reopened in Saudi Arabia in April 2018. Since then, various initiatives have been taken to develop the film industry, support local film-makers and strengthen the overall infrastructure of the sector. As part of this, the ‘Film Commission’ was formed in February 2020 as one of 11 specialised cultural commissions.
The scope of government support widened further with the establishment of the ‘Cultural Development Fund’ in 2021. Later, in 2023, the body launched the ‘Film Sector Financing Program’ with a budget of 879 million riyals to attract local and foreign investment alongside developing production, distribution and film infrastructure.
