Middle East cinemas post record opening for new Spider-Man film
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"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" has recorded the biggest opening weekend in Middle East box office history, according to Empire Entertainment, Sony Pictures' exclusive theatrical distributor for the region. The milestone underscores the growing strength of Middle Eastern cinema markets for major blockbusters, even as the wider region has faced disruption this year from the outbreak of the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict.
Over the four days from 30 July to 2 August, the Tom Holland-led sequel took $18.4 million across Middle East cinemas, with the UAE ($7.4 million) and Saudi Arabia ($5.4 million) its two strongest markets. By comparison, "The Odyssey" recently opened at $2.8 million in the UAE and $2.6 million in Saudi Arabia. The film also performed strongly in Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, and marks the tenth Spider-Man film Empire has distributed in the region, prompting Empire president Mario Haddad Jr to call it a "powerful precedent" for future distribution.
- "Brand New Day" set the Middle East's biggest-ever opening weekend
- Film earned $18.4m over four days, led by UAE and Saudi Arabia
- Tenth Spider-Man film distributed by Empire in the region
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Two young men in Iran experience a wave of Middle East and North Africa fandom for the latest Spider-Man film, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day", starring Tom Holland. It is distributed exclusively across the region by Empire Entertainment on behalf of Sony Pictures, which has handled every Spider-Man release there for around a decade. Box office figures like these are tracked because they show how much money a film earns from ticket sales in cinemas, and an "opening weekend" is the first few days after release, seen as a key indicator of a film's popularity.
The wider context is that Middle East cinema has been growing as a market for Hollywood blockbusters, with countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia investing heavily in new cinema chains in recent years after both nations lifted long-standing bans on public cinemas. This growth has continued even though the region has seen instability in 2026 following the outbreak of conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which has affected travel, business and daily life in parts of the Middle East.
Comparisons between films' opening figures, such as with the recent release "The Odyssey", are commonly used by the industry and media to gauge relative audience demand and to illustrate broader trends in cinema attendance across different markets.
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Originally published by Variety as “‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Lands Biggest Opening Weekend in Middle East Box Office History”.