Hollywood is feeling the lure of Saudi Arabian money.
The stars are taking it, with many set to receive checks for attending this week’s Red Sea Film Festival. Studios are interested in it, with their executives traveling to the kingdom to meet about potential deals. And at the highest levels, Saudi money could end up helping to finance a massive media merger.
For the entertainment industry, Saudi financing has become more appealing as other sources of money have dried up in the aftermath of the 2020 Covid pandemic, the 2023 dual actors’ and writers’ strikes, and shifting audience habits away from film and TV to social media.
“Money is good, that’s Hollywood’s perspective,” said entertainment attorney Schuylar (Sky) Moore at Greenberg Glusker. “For the Saudis, it’s all about building their own film industry, and they’re trying to get the expertise and the people there.”
But Saudi Arabia’s controversial human rights record makes the relationship an uneasy one for some in the West — and a sensitive topic to talk about in Hollywood, where more than a dozen insiders including agents, producers, executives, bankers and publicists declined to go on the record about the inrush of potential Saudi cash.
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This week, many of them are headed to the kingdom’s coastal city of Jeddah for the Red Sea Film Festival, which runs through Dec. 13. In recent years, the festival, a nonprofit organization financed by Saudi government money, has paid talent up to $2.5 million to attend at least part of the event, according to two sources with knowledge of the deals who were not authorized to speak on the record about them.
A spokesperson for the Red Sea Film Festival contested the figure, calling it “inaccurate, and not representative.”
“The festival does not disclose the details of any of its commercial arrangements, but we on occasion engage with talent on a contractual basis for work we ask them to do at the festival which includes labs, in conversations, mentorship sessions with emerging regional talent,” the festival said in a statement. “The Foundation is first and foremost committed to nurturing talent in underrepresented markets — as evidenced by our programme and the filmmakers we support year round.”
This year, festival organizers announced that the nine-day event will feature a jury with Oscar-winning “Anora” director Sean Baker and actor Riz Ahmed; stage conversations with actors including Ana de Armas, Dakota Johnson, Kirsten Dunst, Jessica Alba and Adrien Brody; and tributes to actors Sigourney Weaver and Michael Caine. Many of the stars are being touted on the festival’s official Instagram page. A diverse slate of films is set to screen including “Couture” starring Angelina Jolie, Paramount’s “The Spongebob Movie: Search for Squarepants,” and Jordan’s Oscar submission, “All That’s Left of You,” which received financial support from the Red Sea Foundation.
Saudi money is also behind a portion of Paramount Skydance’s more than $60 billion bid this week for Warner Bros Discovery, according to Variety, which cites multiple sources, and Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the discussions. A spokesperson for Paramount declined to comment.
Additionally, the kingdom is backing a $1 billion new independent content studio called Arena SNK launched in October by former Lionsgate executive Erik Feig, and a $55 billion deal for video game maker Electronic Arts announced in September. A representative for Feig declined to comment.
Executives from Sony traveled to Saudi Arabia this fall for meetings, a spokesperson confirmed. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts also traveled to the country this fall to attend a conference and view a potential theme park site in Qiddiya, a tourism megaproject in Riyadh province, according to a source with knowledge of Roberts’ trip who was not authorized to speak on the record about it. (Comcast owns NBCUniversal, which is the parent company of NBC News.)
While there are many deals in discussion, Moore noted that a major Hollywood studio has yet to actually close one with Saudi financing. If they do, the entertainment attorney said he suspects the deal will be contingent upon shooting in the region, to help build up the kingdom’s local production infrastructure.
Hollywood’s not alone in its attempts to muster up funding from the Middle East — both the sports and gaming worlds have tapped into Saudi money. Critics, including Human Rights Watch, an international nongovernmental organization, and the Atlantic Council, a research institute, have accused the Saudi government of so-called “sportswashing,” investing in golf and soccer to improve its international image.
In 2027, WrestleMania will be held in Riyadh, marking the first time the WWE will hold its signature pay-per-view match outside North America. In a statement announcing the deal in September,Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE’s chief content officer, said that the General Entertainment Authority (GEA) in Saudi Arabia and its chairman, Turki Alalshikh, “have made a massive impact on the world of sports and entertainment.” He described them as “phenomenal partners to WWE.”
Video gaming giant Electronic Arts announced in September that it will be acquired for $55 billion in an all-cash deal by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners (the investment company run by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner).
From the Saudi perspective, the entertainment industry spending is a way to reduce the country’s economic dependence on oil and to improve their image globally, which is all part of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s modernization plan for the kingdom called Vision 2030.
