Mission Impossible UAE 2025 opening reached an impressive $3.6 million, securing the region’s position among the top 10 global markets and highlighting the Middle East’s growing cinema influence.
The weekend of May 22-25, 2025, delivered a spectacular reminder of cinema’s enduring power. Disney’s Lilo & Stitch and Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning combined for an extraordinary $545.7 million global opening, setting the stage for an exceptional summer season.
Lilo & Stitch surfed to a remarkable $341.7 million global debut, claiming the third-highest Disney Live Action opening weekend ever—trailing only to The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. The film’s success story extends far beyond traditional expectations, with the $100 million production—originally destined for Disney+ before receiving a theatrical upgrade.
What makes this performance particularly impressive is the film’s demographic reach. According to THR, rather than relying solely on families, Lilo & Stitch captured 60% of its domestic audience from non-parent demographics, driven largely by Gen Z and millennial women who grew up with the 2002 animated original. This cross-generational appeal translated into robust international numbers, with $158.7 million from overseas markets, including dominant performances in Mexico, the UK, and Brazil.
Tom Cruise continues to defy both gravity and industry expectations with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning launching to $204 million worldwide. The eighth installment in the franchise achieved series-best numbers globally, collecting $127 million overseas alongside strong domestic performance, surpassing previous franchise record-holder Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
Early audience reception has been positive, with an A- CinemaScore and strong critical reviews praising the film’s practical stunts and emotional storytelling.
The Middle East emerged as a crucial contributor to both films’ success. The UAE ranked among the top 10 markets for Mission: Impossible, with the Tom Cruise vehicle claiming the number one position in the region. Meanwhile, Lilo & Stitch demonstrated strong family appeal across Gulf markets, contributing significantly to Disney’s international haul.
This regional performance underscores the Middle East’s growing importance in the global cinema ecosystem. With the regional market projected to reach $3.44 billion by 2033, driven by young demographics and expanding urban centers, the weekend’s results demonstrate audiences’ appetite for premium theatrical experiences and blockbuster content across all genres.
Both films benefited from premium large format presentations, with IMAX delivering franchise-best numbers for Mission: Impossible ($31M) while Lilo & Stitch attracted families to premium screens. This trend reinforces the industry’s strategic pivot toward enhanced experiences that differentiate theatrical viewing from home streaming.
For cinema advertisers, this weekend demonstrated the power of diverse audience appeal. The success across demographics—from nostalgic millennials to action enthusiasts—created multiple engagement touchpoints. Lilo & Stitch’s family-plus-adult appeal and Mission: Impossible’s premium audience proved cinema’s unique ability to deliver both mass reach and targeted demographics in a captive, premium environment.
The weekend’s triumph establishes momentum for what industry analysts predict could be the most robust summer season since before the pandemic. The upcoming slate includes:
The combination of franchise filmmaking, premium experiences, and global appeal demonstrates that when Hollywood delivers quality content, audiences respond enthusiastically across all markets. Both films proved that theatrical experiences remain irreplaceable—whether through nostalgic emotional connections or breathtaking practical stunts.
The message is clear: cinema remains irreplaceable, and summer 2025 is positioned to be one for the record books, offering unprecedented opportunities for both exhibitors and advertisers to connect with engaged global audiences.
Sources: Deadline, Box Office Mojo, The Hollywood Reporter
The Saudi Box Office demonstrated remarkable resilience in April 2025, generating SAR113.1 million in revenue with local production ‘Shabab EL Bomb’ capturing 20% market share
The Saudi cinema market demonstrated remarkable resilience in April 2025, generating SAR113.1 million in total box office revenue despite typical post-holiday adjustments, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Culture. This performance culminated in strong upward momentum, with the final week recording SAR21.4 million in revenue—a 26.6% increase from the previous week, signaling sustained consumer engagement across the cinema exhibition sector.
According to Gower Street Analytics, this acceleration aligns with the international box office (excluding China), which recorded the highest grossing month since December 2024 ($2.8 billion) with an April total of $2.1 billion—representing a 36% increase over April last year. Internationally, ‘Minecraft Movie’ and ‘Sinners’ powered the box office where there were still gaps expected to be filled in May with a denser, IP-driven, high-profile, and diverse schedule. However, the Saudi market demonstrated a distinctive strength by filling these same programming gaps with regional content, as evidenced by the exceptional performance of multiple Arabic productions.
This regional content advantage is exemplified by the Saudi production ‘Shabab EL Bomb 2,’ which emerged as the undisputed market leader, maintaining the top position for three consecutive weeks and amassing SAR 24.9 million across 537,300 admissions. This single title accounted for over 20% of the month’s total box office revenue, highlighting the growing influence and commercial viability of regional content within the Saudi cinema ecosystem.
Ministry data reveals a classic market recovery pattern throughout April, with weekly revenue stabilizing after an exceptionally strong start. The month began with SAR39.6 million during the week of March 30-April 5 (Eid Al-Fitr holidays), before adjusting to SAR 19.7 million in the second week. This adjustment phase subsequently gave way to a period of steady improvement, with revenues ultimately climbing to SAR 21.4 million in the closing week of April 27-May 3.
The Hollywood action thriller ‘A Working Man’ also delivered a strong performance with SAR 17.4 million and 318,200 admissions, reinforcing the region’s demonstrated preference for international action titles. ‘A Minecraft Movie’ established a solid franchise foundation with SAR 17.3 million across 361,800 admissions over five weeks, highlighting the market’s expanding capacity to sustain diverse content simultaneously.
Several releases exhibited notable growth patterns worth examining. ‘Asaf’ demonstrated consistent week-over-week box office increases, culminating in SAR 7.9 million from 152,300 admissions. Illustrating the effectiveness of strategic release planning in the Saudi market, ‘Siko Siko’ implemented an effective slow-build distribution strategy, starting modestly before gaining significant market traction in its second week to reach SAR 5.0 million from 90,700 admissions.
Marvel’s ‘Thunderbolts’ entered the market in the final week of April with SAR 3.4 million from 55,400 admissions, with industry projections suggesting continued momentum based on strong critical reception and established franchise appeal.
Data from Motivate Val Morgan’s proprietary cinema intelligence platform for advertisers CineMeasure reveals substantial audience engagement across our circuit, with 1.81 million admissions recorded between March 27 and April 30 2025. This audience represents premium consumer segments with demonstrated purchasing power and heightened brand receptivity within the distraction-free cinema environment.
Our detailed analytics identify significant opportunities within premium viewing experiences, which continue gaining substantial market share. Luxury screens accounted for 8% of total admissions, providing brands unprecedented access to high-net-worth consumers in receptive environments. Further enhancing this premium segment, experience formats such as IMAX and Dolby contributed 14% of admissions—collectively catering to diverse tiers of already-affluent moviegoers. All of these create targeted engagement opportunities for precision marketing initiatives.
The established box office trajectory, combined with the acceleration potential of both Eid al-Adha and the subsequent summer blockbuster calendar, creates unprecedented opportunities for brands seeking meaningful consumer engagement in an increasingly fragmented media landscape.
The regional exhibition sector including Saudi is poised to enter its most commercially productive period of 2025. This critical revenue window begins with Eid al-Adha celebrations in early June—historically generating 2.5-3x normal weekly admissions—and continues through the summer months with a strategically diversified content pipeline.
The seasonal slate balances culturally-relevant Arabic productions including ‘Restart,’ ‘F1,’ ‘Ahmed W Ahmed,’ and ‘Darwish’ with tentpole Hollywood franchise entries such as ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,’ ’28 Years Later,’ ‘Superman ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ and more—creating multiple strategic entry points for targeted advertising initiatives.
This powerful convergence of holiday timing, premium audience demographics, and diversified content offerings positions the Saudi and regional cinema market for exceptional growth through Q2-Q3 2025. The guaranteed audience concentration during these peak periods reinforces cinema’s status as the region’s dominant exhibition platform and an advertising medium that never misses its audience.
Sources: Saudi Ministry of Culture, CinePlan and CineMeasure
