Photo: لا روسا / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Nabil Ayouch presides over the jury for the 12-film Golden Pyramid competition and receives a lifetime award.
Photo: Peter Broster / CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Fred Cherrygarden / CC BY 4.0
Takings are up an estimated 20% and level with 2017–19 in dollars, but cinemas sell far fewer tickets. Korea, Brazil and Saudi Arabia grew on attendance; India mostly on price.
Read the analysis: Box office outside North America and China is back in dollars, not tickets. Who’s winning?Takings vs tickets
Takings rose faster than tickets in every market with like-for-like figures
Change on the previous year in takings and in tickets sold. Each market is compared over its own period.
TakingsTickets
South KoreaJan–Sep 2026
Brazilto 23 Sep 2026
Saudi Arabia2025
Worldwide2025
India is not shown: industry takings rose 23% in July–September, but the only ticket count published for the quarter is PVR INOX’s (+4%), so the two are not like-for-like.
Sources: KOFIC; Ancine, compiled for RioMarket; Saudi Film Commission, via Argaam; European Audiovisual Observatory’s Focus 2026, via KOFIC
Read the analysis| Market | Takings | Tickets |
|---|---|---|
| South Korea (Jan–Sep 2026) | +35.9% | +28.8% |
| Brazil (to 23 Sep 2026) | +25.1% | +19.2% |
| Saudi Arabia (2025) | +9% | +7% |
| Worldwide (2025) | +5.4% | +2.8% |
More analysis
Photo: Nielsoncaetanosalmeron / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
Skydance and Netflix job cuts, Hello Sunshine’s reported layoffs: where does the money go?Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios
Prime Video says it pays its way. Japan is where Amazon is testing what it buys nextCourtesy of Bitters End. © 2025 Barunson E&A, Semosi, Vol Media
Who is actually taking films to audiences?
László Nemes’s Jean Moulin drama, distributed by Studio TF1 with Gilles Lellouche, led the week of 28 October–3 November on updated CBO figures; Ducobu passed 1.2 million and Les Misérables cleared one million.
Ticket prices are down about 29% as the only Latin American FIAPF Class A festival tries to rebuild its audience. Seven competitions will name winners at the closing ceremony.
Third-quarter sales rose 18% to KRW688.1bn, and the chain’s Korean cinemas swung from a KRW5.6bn loss to a KRW28bn profit on a 28.6% rise in admissions.
Christopher Nolan’s $1.8bn epic goes to premium VOD, 4K and DVD on 17 November, then returns to cinemas, IMAX 70mm included, from 11 December.
Shannon Tindle directs a film set before the first live-action picture. Release date, animation studio and wider voice cast have not been announced.
Gore co-finances with BBC Film as Leo Woodall and Clémence Poésy add French cast; Cornerstone sells worldwide, with Curzon, Cineart and Madman already locked.
A24 is reported to have dropped out as the price rose. The film-fan network would be valued at more than 20 times its projected 2026 earnings; no deal has been signed.
Africa International Film Festival runs in Lagos from 1–7 November with Nwosu’s UK–Nigeria debut as opening film, Hakeem Kae-Kazim’s It’s the Blackness closing, and the full official selection.
The Argentinian pair’s container-ship drama starts shooting in Spain in March 2027, with Jose Luis Escolar producing and HanWay Films taking world sales into the American Film Market.
The number
$15.1bn
Estimated takings outside North America and China, January–September 2026: up 20% and level with the 2017–19 average at current exchange rates
The diary
Coming up: markets, festivals, release dates
Festival
Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival & Golden Horse AwardsFestival
Tallinn Black Nights Film FestivalFestival
Camerimage, ToruńMarket
Industry@Tallinn & Baltic EventMarket
American Film Market, Los AngelesRelease
The World of Love opens in JapanWeekday mornings. Five stories from every territory, and our reading of them.
One researched analysis of the companies, deals and routes to audiences behind the week’s news.
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