By Charles Mgbolu
The Egyptian action movie thriller "Shekko" is trending for breaking local box office records with a record sale of over 52 million Egyptian pounds ($1,085,653) after spending 17 weeks in theaters, according to Egyptian cinema box office tracker elcinema.
The film directed by Karim El-Sobky is based on Chuck Hogan's famous novel, "Prince of Thieves."
El-Sobky, who has directed other successful Egyptian blockbusters such as Boshkash and A Whole One, has gotten rave reviews for his work since the release of Shekko in early April.
The film opened at the box office with 1,200,000 Egyptian pounds ($25,053) in earnings on its opening night.
The film also got a glowing rating of 7.3 stars according to elcinema, getting critical acclaim for its fast paced action and stunts.
Shekko earned a weekly revenue of 9,797,486 Egyptian pounds and was also the film with the largest daily income for an Egyptian film in local cinema history during the Eid al-Fitr season.
Post-COVID cinema recovery
Across Egypt, the appetite for local films is returning after the pandemic, which saw film studios rack up huge losses.
The pandemic closures led to the Egyptian movie sector recording a loss of 270 million Egyptian pounds, according to figures published by the Egyptian Centre for Economic Studies.
Post-pandemic revenue is slow but commendable, with local cinema earning over $4 million in 2023, according to Box Office Mojo.
However, it is still a long shot from the 18 million US dollars earned pre-pandemic in 2014.
Stiff competition
Egyptian cinema, however, needs to keep an eye on their Saudi Arabian neighbour, with the kingdom recently announcing plans to invest 64 billion USD in its entertainment industry, according to Bloomberg.
This could automatically crown Saudi Arabia as the region's (Middle East and North Africa MENA) entertainment heart, with projections to open up over 2,000 cinema screens by 2030.
For now, at least the Egyptian cinema can celebrate this Shekko win, which puts them right on track. Revenue in national cinema ticket market for 2024 is projected to reach US$8.37 million, according to Statista.
Shekko, the latest blockbuster success, will remain in theater listings across the country for another few weeks. It stars notable local movie faces such as Amr Youssef, Mohamed Mamdouh, Yousra, Dina El-Sherbiny, Amina Khalil, and Abbas Abu Al-Hassan.
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