BY SACHIN KUMAR
Doha: Around 92 percent of the films released in 2012 were non-Arabic which shows that Qatar’s craze for such films is growing with every passing year.
A total of 1,344 movies were released in 2012, and 1,225 of them were non-Arabic. Only 119 were Arabic films.
The number of films released in Qatar in the past five years surged by 137 percent, with non-Arabic movies reaching 1,344 in 2012 from 516 in 2008.
It is not surprising to see people queuing in cinema halls showing English or Hindi movies.
English movies which drew crowds last year included Fast & Furious 6, Iron Man 3 and Star Trek-Into Darkness.
Hindi movies Ek Tha Tiger, Krish 3, Ranjhana and Dhoom 3 emerged as crowed pullers.
Malayalam movies Drishayam and Amen also got good response last year.
Arabic films are also drawing fans to cinema halls. The number of Arabic movies released in the past five years went up by 28 percent to 119 in 2012 from 93 in 2008.
“Arabic films are also crowd pullers. These films have seen the rise of many stars in the past few years which has increased the popularity of such films,” said Mana Ibrahim Al Mana, Chairman, Qatar Property Management, which runs four cinema halls in the country.
Despite the Internet and DVDs, the charm of watching movies in cinema halls is on the rise.
The number of people going to cinema halls jumped by 34 percent to 16,03,000 in 2012 from 11,98,000 in 2008.
Keeping pace with demand for films, cinema halls have increased their seating capacity. In the last five years, the number of cinemas rose from 25 in 2008 to 38 in 2012 and the number of seats from 5,200 in 2009 to 7,498 in 2012.
The Peninsula
