Saudi thriller Mandoob has broken the local box office record for a homegrown title and beat Warner Bros tentpole Wonka to top the weekend box office.
The film took $1.58m from 114,000 admissions following its release across KSA on December 14. This makes it the highest opening for a local title since Saudi Arabia ended a 35-year ban on operating cinemas in December 2017.
The record was previously held by wrestling comedy Sattar, which opened with 63,000 admissions in December 2022. Mandoob also scored the second biggest opening for an Arabic film in the territory, after Egyptian romantic comedy Bahebek (I Love You), which took around $3m from 126,000 admissions in July 2022.
The performance relegated Warner Bros’ Wonka to second place with $616,000 from 38,000 admissions and Studio Ghibli’s The Boy And The Heron to third with $195,000 from 14,500 admissions.
The release of Mandoob was handled by Front Row Arabia, a joint venture between distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Muvi Cinemas. It also handled the release of Sattar, which went on to become the biggest Saudi movie of all time with more than 917,000 admissions and a box office of $11m.
Mandoob was produced by local powerhouse Telfaz11 Studios with support from Red Sea Film Festival Foundation and Muvi Studios. The film had its world premiere at Toronto in September before receiving its MENA premiere at Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah earlier this month.
It marks the feature directorial debut of Ali Kalthami, who is also a co-founder of Telfaz11. The film stars Mohammed Aldokhei as a struggling delivery mandoob (Arabic for courier) who becomes a bootleg alcohol dealer in a bid to support his ailing father. The film was shot entirely in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
Director Kalthami said of the record-breaking opening: “We took a leap into uncharted territory, exploring a new genre, and witnessing the audience’s enthusiastic embrace of the film is immensely gratifying. Mandoob represents a significant shift in Saudi cinema, and I’m thrilled by the audience’s positive reaction.”
Front Row CEO Gianluca Chakra said the box office results “prove once again that local-language films are ready to take over from Hollywood in KSA”.
“Only 13% of releases in 2023 were local-language and yet they’ve achieved over 36% of the box office, a steady growth from previous years,” he added. “This prospect is hugely exciting for Arab cinema.”
International sales of the feature are handled by MPM Premium.
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