Saudi Arabia’s fast-growing entertainment sector added a high-profile new film company this week.
3SIX9 Studios was launched at the Cannes Film Festival this week by Saudi Sheikh Mohammed El Khereiji, who has invested in Hollywood films for years and will serve as chairman; Daya Fernández, who has worked with Tom Cruise and will be CEO; Inga V. Smith, a former Paramount executive who will be president; and Amaury Nolasco, an actor/producer best known for the TV series Prison Break.
The company will strive to usher in “a new era in Hollywood-Saudi entertainment collaboration,” the quartet said in a statement issued Monday, by employing strategic partnerships with key Saudi leaders in finance, production and business — and Yellow Camel Productions, a preeminent Saudi Arabian production company — to support a slate of new productions.
Projects already in the works, according to the company, include Bunny Run, a fast-paced action comedy written by Jayson Rothwell, shooting in Saudi Arabia in fall 2024; Scotland Yank, a comedic contemporary reimagining of Sherlock Holmes by Mitch Klebanoff, filming in the United States and Saudi Arabia; Patrol, a gripping action-horror film in the vein of Predator; and No Night So Long: Double Clutch, a TV series created by Ilya Naishuller and Will Stewart.
