How cinema in Egypt is getting back on its feet: Against all odds and with omicron on the rise, Sony / Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man: No Way Home shattered box office records by scoring USD 587.2 mn globally in its opening weekend at the end of last year, making it the highest grossing film of 2021 and the third-highest opening of any film of all time. 12 days later, it raked in USD 1 bn globally, ensuring its spot with top earners Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame and Infinity War, the top two box office openers. This was following a year when the final installment of Daniel Craig’s James Bond: No Time to Die was postponed three times and blockbusters like The Batman, Black Widow and Eternals were pushed back to avoid bad box office runs.

The blockbuster opening only goes to confirm that going out is “in” again. Just as pandemic-induced lockdowns have increased our dependence on technology, they have also driven more people to attempt to reclaim the lost pandemic year, with some researchers (already) comparing post-pandemic life to the post-Spanish Influenza decade of the Roaring ‘20s. Cinema — the experience of watching a film with strangers in a dark room and sharing in the collective gasps, chuckles and annoyances — is certainly one of those experiences, although the current zeitgeist might not keep the ailing industry alive indefinitely.

And Egypt is no exception: Spidey made ripples in Egypt, achieving some EGP 57 mn (USD 3.6 mn) in box office sales. But so have Egyptian movies, as film buffs make their way back to theaters following almost two years of Netflix-and-chilling. Local films have been achieving good box office runs as well, with the past year seeing a renewed appetite for cinema-going in Egypt. This comes after a year when movie theaters racked up losses due to peak pandemic closures that saw them shutter their doors from March to June 2020 and then reopen with 25% caps to enforce social distancing. Cinema closures between March and May 2020 led to the loss of EGP 270 mn by the movie sector, according to figures published by The Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES).

In Egypt, cinema revenues are split roughly 50/50 between Egyptian films and Hollywood, varying slightly from year to year, according to ECES, which charted ticket sales from 2015 to 2019. In 2019, cinemas generated EGP 1.2 bn in revenue, up from EGP 843 mn the previous year. However, the report attributes the leap to the increase in ticket costs, rather than an increase in ticket sales.

The local industry wasn’t exactly churning out dozens of films pre-pandemic. In 2019, 33 Egyptian films were made, raking in USD 72 mn (c. EGP 1.1 bn) — a modest number compared to say, 2k Bollywood films in 2018 and 660 Hollywood films in 2017). It is, however, still the highest in the Middle East, according to ECES. In 2020, that number plummeted to EGP 143 mn (USD 9.1 mn).

But it is getting some much-needed interest from investors. “We are at an intersection where we either build on the talent pool that we have or we become consumers of content that is created and controlled by other global and regional entities,” says Gamal Guemeih, Investment Manager at Ergo, Media Ventures, which entered into a definitive agreement with Film Clinic (Feathers, Netflix’s Paranormal and Perfect Strangers) in September of last year, giving Ergo a 49% stake in Film Clinic. “Today, the whole concept of content production is no longer just a cultural undertaking. Governments are looking at it as a driver of economic growth because it reflects on so many different aspects. It can be a source of employment, FDI, tourism, it helps in many different ways,” Guemeih tells Enterprise.

And we can see that from the effort being done with festivals: The Gouna Film Festival, (GFF), which has also jolted back to life the longstanding Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), has brought pizazz back to the industry. GFF has served the dual role of building the organizational capabilities of event organizers and maintaining healthy competition with CIFF, with many Egyptian organizers working on last year’s Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah.

There is a palate for Egyptian cinema in the Kingdom. As the “Hollywood of the Middle East,” Egypt exports cinema to other countries in the Arab world, making it dependent on cinema sales in the UAE, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and, recently, Saudi Arabia. The opening of Saudi Arabia’s movie theaters was lauded by film critics as good news for the Egyptian cinema industry given the kingdom’s preference for Egyptian films (mostly comedy). In fact, an Egyptian remake of American comedy Last Vegas — Wa2fet Regala which grossed EGP 25.8 mn in the domestic box office (USD 1.6 mn) and was later released on regional streaming platform Shahid — was the highest grossing film in Saudi Arabia in 2021.

Egypt needs to beware the sleeping Saudi giant: The Kingdom recently announced plans to invest USD 64 bn in its entertainment industry, positioning itself as a filming location for Hollywood blockbusters and signing an eight feature film agreement with Netflix to produce regional content. The launch of the Red Sea Film Festival in December of last year with 27 Saudi film screenings was a clear indication that it is looking to bring some glitz home as it invests in growing the local industry. Saudi Arabia has the potential to absorb as many as 2.6 k screens by 2030 and is expected to hit USD 180 mn in box office revenues by 2024, a report by PwC estimates.

…but Egypt has the potential to remain king: “Egypt still has an advantage because of its huge talent pool both on-screen and off-screen, and the rise of different platforms represents both an opportunity and a threat,” Guemeih tells us, adding that changing consumption habits are driving investment decisions in the industry.