Expanding Middle East indie film distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment has forged a joint venture with Saudi Arabian exhibition chain Muvi Cinemas to launch Front Row Arabia, with ambitious plans to cash in on Saudi's current theatrical boom.The new distribution and exhibition company will be releasing English, Arabic, Japanese anime and alternative content across Saudi which — bucking the global downward trend — in 2020 became the Middle East's top theatrical market, worth an estimated $120 million last year. Muvi...
Front Row Filmed Entertainment
Gianluca
Chakra
Managing Director
Entertainment pioneer Chakra heads up the Dubai-based film distribution company Front Row, having long ago transcended the solely theatrical to embrace relationships with Apple, Google, local pay-TV players and streaming service Iflix. Front Row currently aggregates content for the regional iTunes VOD platform, and it’s now aiming to kick things up by branching into production of mostly Arabic film and TV content to feed the demand of Saudi audiences. In the face of COVID-19 restrictions, Chakra has continued building VOD into its business model and has moved some of the company’s new film releases direct-to-VOD, kicking off with “Resistance,” the Marcel Marceau biopic starring Jesse Eisenberg. Also in Front Row’s pipeline is the Arabic remake of hit Italian dramedy “Perfect Strangers.”