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From ArabianBusiness.com:

British film ‘The King’s Speech’ has seen UAE ticket sales soar 300 percent after its Oscar win, but is still lagging Hollywood blockbuster ‘Big Mamma’s House 3’, film promoters have said.

The movie, starring Colin Firth, made its debut at the 2010 Dubai International Film Festival and has earned $473,784 during its four-week run in the Gulf state.

But despite sweeping the board at the film industry’s most prestigious event, ‘The King’s Speech’ is still being floored in the UAE by a comedy about cross-dressing FBI agents.

‘Big Momma’s House 3’ earned AED1,801,645 ($490,490) in its first week of release and attracted nearly 54,000 admissions, data from promoters Italia Film shows.

By comparison, 45,000 people have bought tickets to see the historical drama in the last month, putting it at No.11 in the UAE box office listings.

But general manager John Chahine said the historical drama had outstripped expectations, after being forecast to achieve a maximum of 15,000 admissions in the UAE.

No independent film has ever exceeded 20,000 ticket sales in the Gulf state, he said.

“Due to the Oscars and Dubai International Film Festival opening coverage, we reached 45,000 admits, which is huge for us. An Oscar movie has never done 150 percent or more than normal prediction… so we are very pleased,” Chahine said.

On an international scale, boxofficemojo.com reports ‘The King’s Speech’ has earned $310.2m worldwide since it release on November 26, 2010.

‘Big Momma’s House 3’ has raked in $51m since its release on February 18.

 

The long winter evenings must just fly by…

The excitement is building to fever pitch in the UAE’s Western Region:

An Emirati camel from the Assile category was crowned as the camel that yields the most milk in the Hallaba competition organised prior to Al Dhafra Festival, which will kick off on December 16 in Madinat Zayed in Al Gharbia (the Western Region).

The festival is organised by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (Adach) under the patronage of General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. The Hallaba competition started on Saturday and will conclude today.

The camel named Deri’a and owned by Emirati Obaid Naseeb Atiq Al Subousi, came in the first place with 11.7kg of milk. It competed against Omani, Saudi and Yemani camels.

The camel Hamra, owned by Omani Mubarak Mohammad Bakheit Al Sha’sha’I, yielded 11.353kg milk and was runner up. Camel Bin Dhaiban, owned by Emirati Salih Marzouq Al Ameri giving 11.485kg milk, was third.

This action-packed and thrilling event was only a foretaste of the hijinks and merriment still to come at the Al Dhafra Festival, “a celebration of the camel and its role in the life of the people of the region … centred on the Camel Beauty contest”.

(Incidentally, can anyone explain why the third-place camel produced more milk than the second-placed one?)