In addition to serving as the ultimate creative retreat for American hitmaker Kanye West (who allegedly recorded his upcoming album there), Saudi Arabia’s enchanting hotspot, namely AlUla, has been chosen as the official filming location for 10 upcoming Hollywood movies. Announced during the 2023 Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF) in Jeddah— which recently concluded its third edition over the weekend— it is being reported that the groundbreaking deal was brokered between two leading institutions within the silver screen industry: Film Al-Ula and Stampede Studios.
According to the information available so far, the agreement between the Royal Commission of AlUla’s own studio complex and one of Hollywood’s most successful production houses is set to unfold over the next three years. This comprehensive partnership is poised to bring 10 features to life in that timeframe. With the aim of bolstering the Kingdom’s creative scene, while nurturing burgeoning talent along the way, it’s been confirmed that two titles will be shot in the second quarter of 2024.
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The first, dubbed Fourth Wall, allegedly centers around a former child star who is abducted and wakes up on the set of a popular television sitcom. Although the names of the directors and actors involved in the project are still being kept under wraps, it has been rumored that American Horror Story star Emma Roberts could be taking on the film’s lead role.
The second, titled Chasing Red, will be a cinematic adaptation of Isabelle Ronin’s romantic novel of the same name, which follows a surprising relationship between an excellent student, Veronica, and her nemesis, a playboy named Caleb.
“We’ve been very busy at Film AlUla, not just on the domestic side with supporting [local] talent and projects, but also with this groundbreaking collaboration with Stampede Ventures, where we’re looking at how to work together,” said Charlene Deleon-Jones, executive director of Film AlUla.
“As a company, we’ve done this a few times. We always become a hub for helping local writers, directors, and actors. But our program is specifically to bring Hollywood studio films to AlUla over three years, to train the crew and, at a minimum, with one Saudi in each department,” added Stampede Ventures’ founder and CEO Greg Silverman.
At the helm of a plethora of global box office hits, including Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, Stampede’s partnership with Film AlUla is poised to further elevate Saudi Arabia’s status as a leading hub for filmmaking. With Hollywood’s focus shifting towards our region, we can hope to witness a sustainable local scene flourish in the near future and the development of a film culture that could, in its turn, inspire and influence other parts of the world as well.
