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MENA-based production companies Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Dubai Bling producers Different Productions are teaming up with regional celebrity Nour Arida and independent creative agency Read the Room, to produce Confidence is Queen.

The show is billed as an ambitious new reality series fronted by Nour Arida, who is one of the most influential Arab women.

It sees Arida assemble a powerhouse squad of female mentors to guide a selected group of Arab women through an emotional and entertaining journey of fears, tears, laughter, and discovery.

The co-creators say the show aims to ignite a confidence revolution, proving that the power of sisterhood can uplift, inspire, and rebuild from the inside out.

With a social following exceeding 18 million on her platforms, Nour Arida is one of the very first Arab women to front worldwide campaigns of giant brands such as Audemars Piguet, Sephora, Bouchero and MakeUp Forever.

Through the show, she intends to extend her advocacy for women’s empowerment to television, tackling the very real confidence and self-worth challenges faced by women across the region and beyond.

This is Front Row’s first foray into reality TV. The company had previously produced Netflix’ first Arab Original feature Perfect Strangers, which went on to top the charts on Netflix in the MENA as well as the psychological thriller The Sand Castle, which premiered on the platform in 2025.

Read the Room is an independent creative agency created by five female founders with backgrounds in global advertising agencies across Beirut, Dubai, New York, Montreal, and Rio de Janeiro.

They are experts in brand communication and marketing, having led campaigns for major international and regional brands. The founders are renowned for impactful women’s rights campaigns in the Middle East and have collectively won over 300 industry awards, including multiple from the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival.

The project is co-produced with Different Productions, the company behind Netflix’s hit Dubai Bling, Shark Tank Dubai, as well as It’s OK, an intimate look at Lebanese superstar Elissa.

October 13, 2025 4:08am

https://deadline.com/2025/10/front-row-dubai-bling-nour-arida-confidence-is-queen-1236583352/

Dubai-based Front Row Filmed Entertainment has added a new string to its bow to come on board as a producer on Lebanese comedian John Achkar’s one-night performance of his show Tryin’ at famed the L’Olympia theater in Paris later this month.

The show on October 23, which is already sold-out, is being billed as the first-ever Arabic-language performance by an Arab comedian at the historic live entertainment venue, which has previously hosted Chris Rock, Gad Elmaleh and Eddie Izzard.

The move marks a first foray into live comedy for the pan-Arab film and TV distribution and production company behind Netflix’s first Arab Original feature Perfect Strangers and the recent streaming hit The Sand Castle by Matty Brown.

In addition to the Paris show, Front Row is also in deep negotiations with a global streaming platform for a worldwide release of Tryin’ in 2026.

This will be the first of a planned six-title Arabic stand-up slate currently in development at Front Row, with the remaining comedians’ names to be revealed at a later date.

The Paris date continues a 75-city global tour, which has sold out venues From Beirut, Riyadh, Dubai, and Cairo to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Montreal, Hamburg, Marseille, London, Geneva, Berlin, Sydney, Melbourne.

Developed by Achkar, the show dives headfirst into the hilarity and heartbreak of modern Arab life. Performed in Arabic across cities around the world, the show speaks to both those who stayed and those who left, the Lebanese and Arab diaspora scattered everywhere.

“Contrary to western belief, the Middle East isn’t one audience. It’s a mosaic of countries, cultures, and dialects that rarely laugh at the same thing,” said Gianluca Chakra, CEO of Front Row Filmed Entertainment.

“John managed to crack that space without ever diluting his voice. He’s toured more than 75 cities, filled every room, and found the universal pulse that unites Arabs everywhere through pure, honest comedy. Now, stepping onto the stage at L’Olympia, where the world’s greatest comics have performed, he proves that Arab stories can travel without compromise.

Achkar agreed that performing at the L’Olympia marked a landmark moment for Arabic-language standup.

“For me, stepping on the stage at L’Olympia is about proving that Arab comedy deserves to stand shoulder to shoulder with the world’s best. Our stories, our struggles, and our laughter belong on the biggest stages, because humor is a language that everyone understands. Beyond the laughter, we are building a community.”

https://deadline.com/2025/10/front-row-lebanese-comedian-john-achkar-tryin-paris-olympia-1236586865/

Goodfellas and Utopia have announced a slew of sales for Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl following its launch at the Cannes market.

The movie, starring Pamela Anderson as a veteran Las Vegas showgirl forced to reinvent her life, was a hot title in the lead up to the market this year.

In first deals, it has sold to MENA (Front Row Filmed Entertainment / Teleview International), Benelux (September Film Distribution), Switzerland (Filmcoopi Zurich), Germany (Constantin Film), Spain (Vertigo Films), UK (Picturehouse), Italy (Be Water Film), Poland (Gutek Film), CIS (Capella Film), Australia (Madman Entertainment) and airlines (Skeye Inflight Entertainment).

Further major deals are currently under negotiation, with the expectation that all territories will be sold by the end of the market.

Anderson plays a seasoned showgirl who is left high and dry when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run. As a dancer in her fifties, she struggles with what to do next. As a mother, she strives to repair a strained relationship with her daughter, who often took a backseat to her showgirl family.

Currently in post-production, the Las Vegas-set film also features Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka, Billie Lourd and Jason Schwartzman in the cast.

Kate Gersten (The Good Place) wrote the original story and screenplay. Robert Schwartzman (The Good Half) and Natalie Farrey (Her) produced. Cinematography is by Autumn Durald Arkapaw (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), and Andrew Wyatt (Barbie) wrote the original music.

The movie’s Cannes Market roll-out marked the first joint sales operation between Paris-based sales and production company Goodfellas and New York and L.A.-based distributor and sales company Utopia, building on a relationship formed over the latter’s acquisition and distribution of Goodfellas titles such as Holy Spider and Vortex.

“This has far exceeded our projections, we’re extremely proud of how well buyers responded to the script and promo reel, and very happy with this first co-selling experience,” commented Goodfellas Head of Sales Eva Diederix and Utopia VP of Sales Marie Zeniter.

Vin Diesel is set to enter production on Riddick: Furya, the anticipated fourth installment of the Riddick franchise, on August 26.

Shooting in Germany, Spain and the U.K., this follow-up to the sci-fi films Pitch Black (2000), The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) and Riddick (2013) reunites Diesel with writer-director David Twohy. Diesel reprises his role as the anti-hero Richard B. Riddick, a dangerous escaped convict wanted by every bounty hunter in the galaxy.

In Riddick: Furya, Riddick finally returns to his home world, a place he barely remembers and one he fears might be left in ruins. But there he finds other Furyans fighting for their existence against a new monster. And some of these Furyans are more like Riddick than he could have ever imagined.

Diesel will produce for One Race Films, alongside Samantha Vincent. Thorsten Schumacher for Rocket Science and Lars Sylvest for Thank You Studios will also produce alongside Joe Neurauter. Rocket Science repped international rights and has completed worldwide cornerstone pre-sales to the UK (yet to be announced), France (Metropolitan), Germany (Leonine), Spain and Latin America (Sun), Benelux (The Searchers), Poland (Kinoswiat), Canada (Elevation), Scandinavia (Scanbox), Portugal (Lusomundo), Switzerland (Ascot Elite), South Africa (Empire), Greece (Femeway), the Middle East (Front Row), CIS and Baltic States, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech/Slovak, Republic Former Yugoslavia (ProRom), and Thailand (Sahamongkhol). CAA Media Finance is representing the film’s North American rights.

Most recently producing and starring in Fast X, which grossed over $704M worldwide, Diesel has also in recent years been heard voicing Groot in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and other Marvel projects.

Previously writing and directing all three Riddick films, Twohy is also known for his writing of the Harrison Ford starrer The Fugitive. Also the writer-director of the alien horror pic The Arrival and supernatural thriller Below, he most recently penned the financial thriller Big Dogs, to be directed by Ridley Scott.

At Cannes, Rocket Science’s slate also includes Ali Abbasi’s Competition entry The Apprentice starring Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong and Maria Bakalova; Michael Gracey’s Better Man; Alex Winter’s Adulthood starring Josh Gad, Kaya Scodelario and Anthony Carrigan; Peter Cataneo’s The Penguin Lessons starring Steve Coogan; and Louis Leterrier’s 11817.

Diesel is represented by CAA and Linden Entertainment; Twohy by Atlas Artists.