Saudi Arabia is earning huge money from…, not oil, Hajj or Umrah

Saudi Arabia is reworking suddenly, and now it no longer handiest depends on oil or non secular tourism but its establishing new industry of cinema. Beneath the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the dominion is establishing varied earnings sources by cultural shifts.

Earlier identified as the heartland of Islam, Saudi Arabia is now entering into a extra current expertise. While oil revenues and Hajj-Umrah pilgrimages hold long been its economic backbone, cinema is emerging as a brand new income source. This cultural and economic evolution is a component of the Kingdom’s mettlesome ‘Vision 2030’ reform notion.

Box Advise of job Assortment

In barely the first quarter of 2025, movies screened in Saudi cinemas generated a mettlesome 127 million Saudi Riyals (approximately $34 million) in income. This used to be a 4% amplify as compared with the first quarter of 2024, in step with Hani Al Mulla, Govt Officer of the Cinema Affiliation in the country’s Jap Province. 365 days by year, the Saudi box convey of business is rising.

Cinema Comeback

Saudi Arabia’s new expertise of films began in 2018, when the executive lifted a 35-year-outmoded ban on cinemas. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman opened up the dominion socially and economically. The first film screened post-ban used to be Wonder’s Unlit Panther in the capital Riyadh.

Since then, the different of cinemas right thru the country has grown suddenly, showing Saudi is popping into now leisure hubs and symbols of societal exchange.

Saudi Cinema Plans

In the Jap Province, they hold got six predominant theaters, and there are plans to expand the different of cinemas extra. This dilemma is a hotspot for film followers, and the executive can be focusing on rising interrogate.

As Saudi Arabia opens extra monitors and invests in its home film sector, cinema can was an major source of earnings in the country’s non-oil economy.