UAE cinema box office set to slump in Ramadan

UAE cinema owners are expecting box office revenues to slump by up to 80 percent during Ramadan as attendances drop and film producers shelf any new releases until the close of the holy month, Arabian Business has learned. Figures from Italia Films in Dubai reveal that last year UAE cinema attendance slumped 80 percent during the Holy Month of Ramadan, compared to the month previous. This resulted in total box office earnings for the month slumping 80 percent to AED7.175m ($1.953m). “Every year Ramadan is a quiet month. It will be pretty much the same, maybe not 80 percent but between 75 and 80 percent. It is nothing strange,” said Samer Debsi, general manager at Prime Pictures in Dubai, promoters of Cinemacity in the Arabian Center in Mirdiff, Dubai. The trend was the same in 2009 when attendances and box office earnings both slumped 68 percent during the holy month. Despite blockbusters such as the final Harry Potter movie, Jim Carrey’s ‘Mr Pooper’s Penguins’ and comedies ‘Horrible Bosses’ and Bridesmaids’ opening in the lead up to Ramadan, the major movie distributors have only one new movie scheduled for release during the holy month.“The main issue is distributors not releasing any movies during Ramadan,” said Debsi. “The second issue is a lot of people during Ramadan are fasting and are not in a position to go to the cinema after an iftar. It’s difficult,” he added. The next major new releases will not be released in the UAE until September 1, when the ‘Smurfs’ and ‘Captain America’ blockbusters will hit screens and end the Ramadan cinematic drought.The data shows that attendances recover soon after Ramadan. In 2010, the total box office for the four weeks before Ramadan was AED36m. While it fell to AED7m during Ramadan, it was back up to AED33m in the four weeks after the holy month. From / Arabian Business News