Saudi Arabia Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Muvi Studios, the production arm of Saudi Arabia’s leading exhibition chain Muvi Cinemas, is ramping up production of Arabic movies with plans to release 10 titles spawned by its own pipeline in 2024, starting with comedy “Esabet Azeema” that will bow locally on Jan. 4. “Esabet Azeema,” which toplines Egyptian icon Esaad Younis making her hotly anticipated return to the big screen, is part of a co-production pact that Muvi struck in 2022 with prominent Egyptian studio Al Arabia Cinema.

New York Post, James Dolan, the executive chairman of the Madison Square Garden Network, said that conversations were going “back and forth” with Abu Dhabi about the possible new venue.He also revealed that additional plans for further venues in Saudi Arabia and South Korea had “stalled”.The news comes after it was reported in November that Las Vegas’ Sphere, which is housing a residency by U2, had made a loss of $98.4million (£80.5million) since opening on September 29.Reviewing U2’s Vegas residency the Sphere, NME hailed the show for “taking the live concert experience ‘to the next level’” and delivering “a fine balancing act of doing just that while also ensuring their music remains very much at the forefront”.Earlier this month, U2 announced that they were extending their residency until March 2024.Earlier this month, the UK government called for plans for a Vegas-style Sphere venue to be created in London to be revived, after they had been scrapped by the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan.The original plans, first announced in 2018, would have seen a 21,500-capacity venue built, becoming the largest concert arena in the UK.However, after five years of planning for the venue, hopes of it coming to fruition appeared to be quashed in November, when the London Mayor intervened in the decision, citing the “unacceptable negative impact” it would have on the local residents.The proposed venue had raised concerns from some of those living in the surrounding area, who highlighted the strains on local infrastructure and health risks.

Manchester City are 90 minutes away from potentially being crowned world champions - but one benefit they would get with that particular tag might well be delayed until the new year.

Manchester City breezed through to the Club World Cup final on Tuesday with a convincing 3-0 win over Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds in Saudi Arabia.

Manchester City will compete in their first-ever Club World Cup this week and kick-off with a semi-final clash against Urawa Red Diamonds this evening.

Peter Caranicas Deputy Editor Global law firm Greenberg Traurig now boasts the largest sports, media and entertainment team in the Middle East with the addition of two new attorneys: shareholder David Bintliff and senior associate Lewis Calder, who will be based in the United Arab Emirates office. Both were previously with Bird & Bird.

Bundesliga side RB Leipzig are reportedly ready to enter the race for Manchester United winger Jadon Sancho.

Two controversial Hollywood stars were spotted together in first class on a flight from Dubai to Los Angeles!

Marc Anthony extends his influence in sports ownership. In addition to being a minority owner of the Miami Dolphins, he is now the owner of the new E1 Team Miami, part of the UIM E1 World Championship.The salsa singer’s E1 Team Miami will be on the starting line at the first E1 event on February 2, 2024, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, along with other teams owned by some of the world’s biggest celebrities, including Tom Brady, Rafael Nadal, Steve Aoki, Sergio Pérez, Didier Drogba and Virat Kohli.Magnus, the star-owned company, is set to host E1 in the United States during season two.

Manchester City are in the Middle East this week as they bid to create history in the FIFA Club World Cup.

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.

Manchester City will find it harder to win the Club World Cup after their draw with Crystal Palace, Pep Guardiola admits.

TikTok’s ‘Add To Music App’ is set to roll out to users in 19 more countries worldwide following its launch last month.Last month, TikTok announced a new feature that allows users to directly save sounds from the app to their streaming platform of choice.Users in the US and UK can already utilise the feature now, which allows fans to save music they’ve discovered to Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.The social media platform has now announced plans for it to be available in the following countries: Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Sweden, Thailand, Malaysia, UAE, Argentina, Colombia, The Netherlands, Turkey, South Africa, Vietnam and the Philippines.“Add To Music App has been designed to help music fans capture songs that they love on TikTok in the moment of discovery, and to easily save the song to their preferred music streaming service to enjoy whenever they like,” read a statement from the video sharing platform.The feature can be used by tapping on a sound which is listed below a user’s name, then hitting ‘Add to music app’, where you can choose your preferred streaming platform.

Travis Scott has cancelled his show in Chicago just hours before he was due to perform on stage – see rescheduled dates below.The rapper is currently on his Circus Maximus tour, where he was due to stop off at Chicago’s United Centre on December 15. However, the venue unexpectedly announced he was postponing the show on X/Twitter that day, saying.Travis Scott's show at United Center scheduled for tonight has been postponed.

Pep Guardiola said his Manchester City players would need to lift themselves as soon as possible as they aim to be crowned champions of the world next week.

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.

Kanye West showcased a host of new songs from his forthcoming album last night (December 12) and one of them featured a Backstreet Boys song.The track ‘Everybody’ features a recreated chorus from Charlie Wilson, who joins West, Ty Dolla $ign and Lil Baby on the track, instead of mining a sample from the boy band’s famous 1997 hit ‘Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)’. You can view the performance of the track below.A sample would require permission from both a record label and a publisher, but because an interpolation – which is essentially a cover of a segment of a song re-sung or re-played in another song – does not use a recording, only the publisher’s permission is required.Because Backstreet Boys did not write the song they have no control over its use.

Kim Kardashian has been spotted showing her support for Manchester United before their important Champions League showdown with Bayern Munich at Old Trafford.

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.

Manchester United are reportedly in the race to sign Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo as the 24-year-old weighs up his future at Camp Nou.

A popular star of Hindi films for a decade with over 80 million Instagram followers, Alia Bhatt, best known internationally for her 2022 double Gangubai Kathiawadi and RRR, has fast become one of India’s hottest exports. 

Paris Fury enjoyed a luxury yacht trip with her children with her husband Tyson as they headed out for some winter sun this week, sharing a video of the day to Instagram.The blonde beauty, who shares seven children with boxer Tyson, posted a video and captioned it: "2 Fury families having the best day on a yacht EVER! In Saudi Arabia, in pure sunshine, in the crystal clear Red sea". Fans took to the comment section to praise Paris and the children, dubbing her: "Paris u are so naturally beautiful". "Family time is the best x" added another, as a third said: "Looks beautiful enjoy all of you x".

Crystal Palace midfielder Jefferson Lerma has named former Manchester United attacker Cristiano Ronaldo as the best player he has faced, ahead of Lionel Messi.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor The third edition of the Red Sea Film Festival, wrapping Saturday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, felt like a direct response to a burning question from executives and investors present at the festival’s market arm last year: Could Saudi Arabia step out from drama and comedy and head into genre filmmaking? The answer offered by the festival, it turns out, was a resounding yes. “Arabs are closer to fantasy than the Western world,” director Yasir Al-Yasiri told Variety of this year’s Red Sea Film Festival opening film, “HWJN.” The film, a sprawling fantasy about the Arab Jinn culture set and shot in Jeddah, comes at the “right time,” according to the director.

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.

Nick Holdsworth A young boy is fleeing war after his father is killed. All alone in the world, he finds a treasure map that will change his life — and give him the chance to heal from trauma. The plot of “Saleem” — Jordan’s first feature-length animation — is a universal story of the horrors so many children around the world face today, its producers say.

Tom Heaton believes the drive and determination to improve every day has been the key to keeping Cristiano Ronaldo at the top.

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!

The Formula 1 season for 2023 may be over, but race fans will only have to wait a few more months until the 2024 season!

The third annual Red Sea Film Festival handed out its Yusr Awards on Thursday night, with Zarrar Kahn’s In Flames taking Best Feature and Farah Nabulsi’s The Teacher scoring a pair of wins including Best Actor for Saleh Bakri. See the full list below.