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Saudi Arabia has taken another step in its push to become a movie production hub by launching its long-awaited 40% cash rebate to grow the local economy.

MBC Studios has officially confirmed that Samar Akrouk will succeed the departing Christina Wayne as Managing Director.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Samar Akrouk has been appointed managing director of Saudi production powerhouse MBC Studios, replacing U.S. producer Christina Wayne, who recently quietly exited the top post at the production arm of top Middle East broadcaster MBC Group. Akrouk, who has been with MBC for almost 30 years, is currently the group’s director of production.

2017’s “War For The Planet Of The Apes” marked the end of Matt Reeves’ “Planet Of The Apes” reboot trilogy (started by filmmaker director Rupert Wyatt). That series was originally conceived of by screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, who remained exec producers on all three films, and they are back as central players in the next installment of this series, “Kingdom Of The Planet of the Apes” which takes place nearly 300 years after the events of “War For The Planet Of The Apes.” READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2024 Screenwriters on the project include Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Patrick Aison, and this time, stepping in for Matt Reeves, who has gone and left to do his own “Batman” reboot trilogy, is filmmaker Wes Ball, known for the “Maze Runner” trilogy.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor AGC Intl., the international sales and distribution arm of Stuart Ford’s fast-growing independent content studio AGC Studios, has picked up world rights from Image Nation Abu Dhabi, MBC Studios and VOX Studios on Yasir Al Yasiri‘s “HWJN,” and from O3 Medya and Dhafer L’Abidine’s Double A Productions on L’Abidine’s “To My Son.” Saudi fantasy romance ‘HWJN’ will open the Red Sea Film Festival on Nov. 30, while the emotional family drama “To My Son” will premiere in Red Sea’s Arab Spectacular section.

Neom, the Saudi Arabian region that is aiming to become a major film and TV production hub, and prolific Middle East-focused studio Telfaz11, have revealed a partnership. The deal will see the creation of up to nine television and film productions over the next three years and includes two feature films and one series that are currently in development. Telfaz11 will also open offices this year in Neom’s media hub, complementing its existing offices in Riyadh and Dubai. Neom plans to leverage Telfaz11’s new offices to diversify its industry learning activities and multi-disciplinary talent development programs in order to create a talent pool.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Oscar-winning Irish director Terry George (“In the Name of The Father,” “Hotel Rwanda”) is set for Afghanistan-set actioner “Riverman” which will be shot in Saudi Arabia’s NEOM regional production hub. Inspired by true events that unfolded between 2001-2008 during the war in Afghanistan, “Riverman” revolves around a highly decorated Royal Marine named Max who after a series of devastating events goes to the dark side. He is recruited by a private arms dealer to supply weapons to private armies around the world. “Despite being trained to cope with the deadliest situations on Earth, nothing can prepare Max for the high-stakes world of arms dealing,” says the provided synopsis.

EXCLUSIVE: Nine years after joining UTA as a partner and talent agent, Brian Swardstrom is leaving to form new ventures. That will include producing several projects with his husband, Oscar-winning producer Peter Spears, whose credits include Nomadland, Bones and All, and Call Me by Your Name.

Liam Neeson is set to reteam with director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) on upcoming thriller The Riker’s Ghost, we can reveal.

SPOILER ALERT: After an explosive Season Two finale of The Mosquito Coast, a decision looms imminently on whether Apple TV+ reups. It so, the third season heads right into the territory of Paul Theroux’s 1981 novel that Peter Weir turned into a cult classic movie with Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren and River Phoenix. The one where Ford’s brilliant counterculture inventor Allie Fox becomes so obsessed with imposing a vision of utopia that he nearly takes down his family. Here, the author discusses seeing his famed novel pre-quelized by Neil Cross (Luther), the improvements over his book, his nephew Justin starring, and why he’s so rooting for one more season.

“People don’t change, Allie. They just reveal themselves over time.” The final line of the season premiere of Apple TV+’s “The Mosquito Coast” could be about the show itself, a program that maybe never had the gravity or potential that its first season implied it could.

EXCLUSIVE: George Nolfi will direct Lyrical Media’s post-apocalyptic action thriller Elevation with Anthony Mackie, Morena Baccarin and Maddie Hasson set to star. Brad Fuller is on board to produce with John Glenn and writing duo Kenny Ryan and Jacob Roman penning the script. The film is billed as a high-concept, thematically driven action piece set in the Rocky Mountains.  The plot is being kept under wraps, but the story is said to follow a single father and two women who must venture from the safety of their home to face monstrous creatures in order to save the life of a child. 

The Mosquito Coast,” a drama series adapted from the novel of the same title, starring Justin Theroux, Melissa George, Logan Polish and Gabriel Bateman. Based on Paul Theroux’s best-selling novel, “The Mosquito Coast” Season 2 picks up on the family after barely escaping Mexico with their lives, venturing deep into the Guatemalan jungle to meet up with an old friend and her community of refugees. This creates trouble when they become entangled in a conflict between a local drug lord and his family. The show is executive produced by Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer, Stefan Schwartz, Evan Katz, Rupert Wyatt, author Theroux and series star Theroux. Bob Bookman, Alan Gasmer and Peter Jaysen serve as executive producers for Veritas Entertainment Group. The series is created for television and executive produced by Neil Cross. Developed by Cross & Tom Bissell, the series is a Fremantle Production for Apple TV+.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Quality film trilogies are hard to come by.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios has landed Ending Things, an action adventure vehicle for Anthony Mackie and Priyanka Chopra. In competition, Amazon bought a Kevin Sullivan spec script with a True Lies-sque premise. A hit-woman who wants out of the assassin business tells her “business” partner that she’s ending their personal relationship as well. But she comes to realize she doesn’t want to end that part of their bond. In order to survive the breakup – and their last job together – they must join forces for one last night out.

In today’s episode of Bingeworthy, our revitalized TV and streaming podcast, co-hosts Mike DeAngelo and Rodrigo Perez dig into Paramount+’s long-gestating sci-fi epic, “Halo.” Based on the video game franchise of the same name, the show takes place in the 26th century amidst a war between humanity and an alien race called The Covenant. At the center of the story is Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber), a genetically enhanced super-soldier who uncovers an artifact that changes the course of his life, and potentially all life as he knows it (read our review here).

EXCLUSIVE: Natalia Cordova-Buckley (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Mayans M.C.), Ariyon Bakare (His Dark Materials, Carnival Row), and Ian Hart (The Last Kingdom, Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone) have joined the Apple TV+ series The Mosquito Coast as Season 2 regulars.

EXCLUSIVE: The hot spec package in front of buyers right now is Ending Things. The Kevin Sullivan spec has Anthony Mackie and Priyanka Chopra Jonas attached to star in a True Lies-esque action film. A hit-woman who wants out of the assassin business tells her “business” partner that she’s ending their personal relationship as well. But she comes to realize she doesn’t want to end that part of their bond. In order to survive the breakup – and their last job together – they must join forces for one last night out.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentBritish director director Rupert Wyatt (“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”) is shooting Saudi Arabia-set actioner “Desert Warrior” featuring a top notch international cast led by “Captain America” star Anthony Mackie and Aiysha Hart (“Mogul Mowgli,” “Colette”).MBC Studios, the production arm of prominent Middle East broadcaster MBC Group, has teamed up with U.S.

a director change in 2019 when Otto Bathurst stepped in for Rupert Wyatt, and, much like every other series, has been delayed due to the pandemic. Additionally, co-showrunner Kyle Killen stepped down and the other showrunner Steven Kane will depart after the season, meaning that a potential season 2 would need a new showrunner.

a director change in 2019 when Otto Bathurst stepped in for Rupert Wyatt, and, much like every other series, has been delayed due to the pandemic.Executive producers include Kane, Steven Spielberg, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin Television in partnership with 343 Industries, director Bathurst and Toby Leslie for One Big Picture and Killen and Scott Pennington for Chapter Eleven.

Steve Kane, showrunner of Paramount+’s live-action Halo series, will exit the project after its freshman season is produced.

Much has been written about how the Prestige TV era often discards the episodic format of old to present seasons that play more like long movies with credit breaks every hour or so.

A review of Peter Weir‘s classic 1980s drama, “The Mosquito Coast” starring Harrison Ford—about an American inventor exhausted by the perceived danger and degradation of modern society, who decides to escape with his wife and children to the jungles of South America to start over— on Letterboxed humorously describes the film as, about “a fine-ass Libertarian mad scientist who brings ice to Belize.” That’s a little reductive but does speak to the nature of how relevant “The Mosquito Coast” is