Saudi Arabia’s Muvi Studios Ramps up Local Production With Mix of Egyptian, Saudi Titles

EXCLUSIVE: Queer Eye producer Scout Productions is behind a number of interesting consumer product line including a Lego tie-up with the fab five as well as a Funko Pop range and a Walmart furniture line.

EXCLUSIVE: Terrifier 2 and 3 sales firm The Coven is making its first foray into production with exorcist horror Shadow Of God, which quietly wrapped principal photography in Calgary, Canada, last month.

Metallica have released footage of ‘The Unforgiven’ from their first-ever concert in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.The metal icons performed at Soundstorm festival in Riyadh on December 14 as their final show of 2023, which also marked their first gig in the country.The show was originally billed as the first-ever from a major international heavy metal act in the country, but Canadian death metal band Cryptopsy performed in Riyadh on December 1.Metallica performed a 16-song setlist that included favourites like ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’, ‘Master Of Puppets’ and ‘Enter Sandman’.Now the band have shared an eight-minute, professionally shot performance video of ‘The Unforgiven’ from the show. Check it out below.You can find fan-shot footage and the full setlist from Metallica’s first show in Saudi Arabia here.A spokesperson for Heavy Arab Entertainment (per Metal Injection) said of Cryptopsy’s historic performance: “We take immense pride in pioneering the organization of the first-ever international metal band in Saudi Arabia, and we are incredibly honored to have Cryptopsy, alongside [support bands] Creative Waste and Necrosin, marking a significant milestone in the history of the Saudi metal scene.”“Our commitment to promise and deliver, even in the face of imperfections, has truly been the driving force behind this milestone for the scene.

ABC News Studios is expanding its end-of-the-year special The Year, with Robin Roberts set to host one program focused on 2023 and another a look ahead at 2024.

Saudi director Ali Kalthami’s thriller Night Courier (Mandoob) has posted a record-breaking opening at home, generating 114,000 admissions for a $1.58 million gross to beat Warner Bros. blockbuster Wonka.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabian thriller “Mandoob,” about a struggling man who becomes an illegal booze runner, beat “Wonka” over the weekend to top the Saudi box office chart while also scoring the biggest opening to date for a local film in the territory. The groundbreaking Saudi movie, which world-premiered positively in Toronto in September – and more recently bowed regionally at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah – tallied 114,000 admissions and a $1.58 million gross box office intake following its Dec.

Tyson Fury has given fans a sneak peek inside his fancy private jet as he flew to Saudi Arabia for a family holiday.The Gypsy King took a little break with his family before his big fight with Oleksandr Usyk on February 17, after beating UFC star Francis Ngannou. Giving a glimpse inside their lavish lifestyle, his wife Paris Fury showed off their swanky plane ride on Instagram. Seemingly shot by Tyson, Paris added the caption: "Just took a little trip...

Georgina Rodríguez and Cristiano Ronaldo took a trip to the desert of Saudi Arabia, which offers breathtaking landscapes.

Metallica played their first ever show in Saudi Arabia this week – check out fan-filmed footage below.The metal icons performed at the Soundstorm festival in Riyadh on Thursday (December 14) in their final show of 2023, running through a 16-song setlist including hits such as ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’, ‘Master Of Puppets’ and ‘Enter Sandman’.When it was announced on November 27, Metallica’s performance was billed as the first ever show from a major international heavy metal act in the country, but technical death metal band Cryptopsy got there first when they played in Riyadh on December 1.Check out fan-filmed footage and view the setlist below:METALLICA LIVE AT RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIAA dream came true

Caroline Brew editor Director Abdulelah Alqurashi sat down with Variety’s senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay at Variety’s Artisans Screening Series to break down his film “Alhamour H.A.,” Saudi Arabia’s official Oscars submission. The film is based on the true story of one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest con artists, a former security guard named Hamed who grows rich by convincing people to make dubious investments. Alqurashi lived in Jedda as a banker while the scam was happening.

The new season of Marvel Studios’ animated hit, “What If…?” debuts right around the holidays, so why not include a bit of Christmas spirit in the marketing?  READ MORE: The 67 Most Anticipated TV Shows & Series Of 2024 And as seen in the newest trailer for “What If…?” Season 2, which is a little more than a week away, Marvel Studios is tying the new batch of episodes in directly with the approaching holiday.

Paris Fury has shared a look inside the family's incredible winter break to Saudi Arabia. Paris and Tyson are taking some time for themselves ahead of Christmas, after a busy year for the latter with boxing, and for them both following the arrival of baby Rico, whom they welcomed in September.Tyson, 35, and Paris, 33, were joined by friends as the group of 14 boarded a huge private jet to their destination.The couple are also parents to Venezuela, 13, Prince John James, 11, Prince Tyson II, seven, Valencia, five, Prince Adonis Amaziah, four and Athena, two. While on holiday, the family decided to sign up to a hair-raising session of parasailing across the crystal clear Red Sea.

Michael Nordine author Greed may not be good, but it is universal. And while America would appear to have a monopoly on movies about the pursuit of wealth for wealth’s sake, plenty of other nations have exported their version of the rags-to-riches tale — of which Saudi Arabia’s Oscar submission, “Alhamour H.A.,” is just the latest.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor “The Pianist” and “King Kong” star Adrien Brody spoke at the Red Sea Film Festival Friday about a wide variety of creative pursuits, including making music from popcorn in the 1990s. “I liked the sound of the kernels of popcorn hitting the aluminium lid of the pan and so I set my microphone up and recorded it and then I sampled it and put on some reverb,” he told the audience in Saudi Arabia. “It went pok-a-pok-a-pok.” Something of a prodigy, he was cast as a lead in a TV movie “Home at Last” when he was only 15 and later became the youngest actor to win the best male lead Oscar.

Nick Holdsworth An “eco-system” of finance, lending and talent development is driving the creation of Saudi Arabia’s nascent film industry, key figures in the Middle Eastern kingdom’s cultural sector said this week. Speaking during the third edition of the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Abdullah Alkhaldi, chief investment and credit officer at Saudi Arabia’s Cultural Development Fund, said its aim was to be “the financial enabler in pursuing and achieving a cultural vision.” The fund, which launched two years ago, has $152 million available for lending to cultural projects along with a $80 million Film Investment Fund, which was announced in Cannes last May.

There were a bunch of Hollywood A-List stars in Saudi Arabia today for the closing night gala of the 2023 Red Sea International Film Festival!

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rising Saudi Arabian star Yaqoub Alfarhan, who is known for playing the titular drug trafficker and serial killer in hit MBC TV series “Rashash,” plays a very different role in the drama “Norah” by pioneering Saudi director Tawfik Alzaidi, which is set in 1990s Saudi Arabia when conservatism was at its height and all forms of art and painting were banned for religion-related reasons. In “Norah,” which world premiered at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Alfarhan plays an artist named Nader who has given up painting and moved to a remote village to be a schoolteacher. There he intersects with this film’s titular character, played by Saudi newcomer Maria Bahrawi.

Nicolas Cage doesn’t really care if you know he’s related to Francis Ford Coppola. 

“Entrepreneurship and acting are very similar. Both require the same kind of energy,” Goop CEO and Academy Award-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow told a crowd during a career retrospective this evening at the Red Sea Film Festival in Saudi Arabia. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Egyptian-Austrian director Abu Bakr Shawky, who in 2018 made a splash when his first feature “Yomeddine” had the rare distinction of making the competition cut for Cannes, is back on the festival circuit with Saudi-set adventure movie “Hajjan.” Shawky’s big-budget epic follow-up, which launched from Toronto’s Discovery section, is now premiering regionally at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, where it screened Monday to roaring applause as an out-of-competition gala. Somewhat similarly to “Yomeddine” – which involved the desert voyage of a leper, a donkey and a child – “Hajjan” also involves a journey across the desert.