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The Middle East’s leading production houses include MBC Studios (Riyadh), Image Nation Studios (Abu Dhabi), and Keshet International (Israel/London). Saudi Arabia raised its production rebate from 40% to 60% in May 2026, the highest in the region, while Abu Dhabi’s base rebate climbed from 30% to 35% at the start of 2025, with a points-based path that can reach 50% (2026). This directory lists verified production houses headquartered across the region, sourced live from Vitrina’s global entertainment company database. For a country-specific view, see our UAE production house directory.
- 1Saudi Arabia’s production rebate rose from 40% to 60% of eligible local spend, announced at Cannes in May 2026 (Hollywood Reporter, 2026).
- 2Saudi Arabia’s 2025 box office hit $245 million across 18.8 million tickets, with local Saudi films capturing 13% of revenue from just 3% of releases (Saudi Film Commission / Broadcast Pro ME, 2025).
- 3Abu Dhabi’s base production rebate rose from 30% to 35% effective January 2025, with a points-based scheme (crew hiring, local culture, shoot days) reaching up to 50% (Abu Dhabi Media Office, 2025).
The Middle East’s leading production houses include MBC Studios (Saudi Arabia, Desert Warrior, Kandahar), Image Nation (UAE, The Circle, Men in Black 3), and the Israeli format house Keshet International, behind Homeland. Vitrina indexes verified regional production companies with direct contacts and credit histories.
An Incentive Race Reshaping the Region
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are actively competing for international production spend, and both raised their rebates within the same 18-month window according to the sourced dates above — Saudi’s jump from 40% to 60% is now the highest headline rate anywhere in MENA, ahead of Abu Dhabi’s enhanced 35-to-50% structure. That’s a genuinely different market than it was three years ago, when Abu Dhabi’s Image Nation and twofour54 ecosystem had the region largely to themselves as an international production destination.
Key Stat
Saudi films captured 13% of the kingdom’s 2025 box office revenue while representing only 3% of releases (11 of 538 titles), with three Saudi productions landing in the year’s top 10 (Saudi Film Commission, 2025). That’s a disproportionate share worth noting for any buyer evaluating whether Saudi-produced content actually finds a domestic audience, not just whether the rebate makes the production affordable.
Full Directory
MBC Studios, headquartered in Riyadh since MBC Group’s 2022 relocation from Dubai, co-produced “Desert Warrior” (Anthony Mackie) and “Kandahar” (Gerard Butler), both shot on Saudi locations. Image Nation Studios, the Abu Dhabi film studio founded in 2008, financed or co-produced “The Help,” “Men in Black 3,” and fully financed Tom Hanks’s “The Circle.” Keshet International, the London-headquartered arm of Israel’s Keshet Media Group (with a Los Angeles unit, Keshet Studios), created “Prisoners of War” (Hatufim), the Israeli original that became the format basis for Showtime’s “Homeland.” Abu Dhabi Media operates primarily as a state-linked broadcaster rather than a pure production studio, worth noting if a buyer is specifically seeking production capability rather than broadcast distribution.
Browse Verified Companies in the Region
The listing below pulls live from Vitrina’s company database, filtered to headquarters located in the Middle East and ranked by reputation score. Use it to shortlist candidates by country before moving to direct outreach, since Saudi and UAE incentive eligibility rules differ enough that a company’s home base materially affects which rebate a project can actually access. A live, verified record also protects against the kind of geography error that put an India-based company on a prior version of this list, since the underlying data ties each company to a real, current headquarters rather than a category someone assigned manually.
Toonz Media Group
Keshet International
MBC Studios
Image Nation
Charisma Group
Abu Dhabi Media
Saudi vs. UAE: Comparing the Rebates
Saudi Arabia’s rebate reaches 60% of eligible local production expenditure following the May 2026 increase, administered directly by the Saudi Film Commission under the Ministry of Culture. Abu Dhabi’s rebate, administered by the Abu Dhabi Film Commission (not twofour54, which operates the media free zone rather than the incentive itself), runs a 35% base rate effective from January 2025, plus a points-based system rewarding Emirati crew hiring, showcasing local culture, and shoot days in Abu Dhabi that can push the total to 50%. On a straight headline-rate comparison Saudi now leads, but Abu Dhabi’s points-based path rewards specific production choices rather than paying the enhanced rate automatically, so the two schemes aren’t directly interchangeable for budgeting purposes without mapping a specific production’s plans against each one’s actual qualifying criteria.
The Bottom Line on Sourcing in the Middle East
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are both actively courting international production with genuinely competitive, recently-enhanced rebates (per the 2025 and 2026 increases detailed above), but the two schemes have different structures and administering bodies, so run the specific qualifying rules against a real budget before assuming either headline rate applies automatically, since a production that scores poorly on Abu Dhabi’s points criteria could land closer to its 35% floor than its 50% ceiling. Verify a company’s actual headquarters location too, since this exact market has already had at least one miscategorized company (an India-based studio) listed as regional. For related directories, see our Asia directory.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the top production houses in the Middle East?
MBC Studios (Saudi Arabia), Image Nation (UAE), and Keshet (Israel) lead the region across three distinct national production ecosystems.
What is Saudi Arabia’s film production rebate?
60% of eligible local production expenditure, raised from 40% in May 2026, administered directly by that Commission.
What is Abu Dhabi’s film production rebate?
A 35% base rate effective at the start of 2025, plus a points-based scheme that can raise the total to 50%, administered by the Abu Dhabi Film Commission.
Vitrina Intelligence
Middle East Production Market Research · B2B M&E Data Platform
Updated Aug 2026
This directory was compiled and independently fact-checked against the Saudi Film Commission, Abu Dhabi Media Office, Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Screen Daily, Broadcast Pro ME, Wikipedia-sourced production credits, and Vitrina’s company database.
