Saudi Arabia has increased its private investment in state-backed film production by securing financial backing from Universal and Columbia Pictures.

On Tuesday, during the Cultural Investment Conference 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia unveiled two new film investments totaling SR32.5 million (US$8.7 million) with backing from foreign film production companies. That includes Universal and Columbia Pictures as they look to grow their own movie box office in the Middle East. No specific details on the new foreign film investments were offered.

In recent years, international film producers and packaging agencies have increasingly looked to tap into SaudiArabia’s growing production infrastructure, regional talent and financial incentives on offer. Soft money possibilities in Saudi Arabia have gained appeal as the major studios and streamers have become more budget-conscious and drawn back from the indie film market in the wake of the 2023 Hollywood strikes and the end of the Peak TV era.

Also Tuesday, the Saudi Film Fund, a lead investor in the Kingdom’s cultural sectors, announced it is rebranding as Riviera Content as local film titles increasingly gain a foothold in mainstream cinemas and major global studios look to Saudi Arabia as a source of soft money.

The newly-named Riveria Content fund has a mandate to finance and produce movies both locally and internationally in partnership with major global studios as Saudi Arabia looks to become a Middle East hub for film production and draw inward investment in its creative industries as a diversification from an all-important oil industry.

The country’s Cultural Development Fund, launched in 2021, remains the main investor in Riviera Content with a 40 percent stake in an investment fund with SR375 million (US$100 million) in available capital.

That’s local backing for a domestic film industry that only got off the ground with the launch of local cinemas in early 2018.