Motion Picture: Ali Wong And Stephanie Hsu Voice In Steps, Ryan Lucas Signs With Linden Entertainment
Action/Horror/Fantasy/Sci-Fi: We finally have a first look at Kevin Alves’ (Fear Street Part One: 1994) upcoming coming-of-age heist film titled Lucky Weekend. The film is written and directed by Alves, and he will also star as the film's main character, Gabe. The film follows Gabe over a weekend as he gathers a posse of his friends to recover his stolen lottery ticket from his best friend before it gets cashed in. Lucky Weekend aims to examine both the good and the bad in friendships. “You meet someone, and within an hour, they’re suddenly your best friend, and you’d go to battle for them. We want audiences to feel like part of the group, along for the ride. At its core, this story is about friendship — how it begins, how it shifts, and how it can save you,” said Alves. The film is being produced by 31 Twelve Films, with post-production wrapping up ahead of its scheduled 2026 festival debut. No release date is available.
Tawfik Alzaidi is set to start shooting his next film, titled Thuraya, in 2026. Alzaidi is the first Saudi director to have his film, Thuraya, selected for Official Selection at Cannes, where it received praise. In 2023, Alzaidi announced his next feature, Thuraya. No updates were apparent until recently, when Alzaidi announced the film had reached its casting stage. The film will be shot in Saudi Arabia, but will be a film mostly spoken in English. A lot of the details are being kept under wraps for the meantime, with its setting taking place in Alzaida’s home community of Bedouin in the early 20th century. The lead for the film will be a strong female character, with casting for the lead happening within the community and casting for a Western character happening in the United States. The film plans to begin shooting in 2026.
Drama/Comedy/Musical: Romantic drama One Night Only rounds out its cast with five new actors. All of these actors will be playing supporting roles in the film, and among the five is actress Ziwe (The Studio). One Night Only’s plot follows two people looking for partners to sleep with during the one night in the year when premarital sex is legal. Who Ziwe and the other actors will be playing is mostly under wraps. Ziwe has a background in comedy and writing, and her YouTube show Baited With Ziwe put her on the map. Universal Pictures is backing the film, with a release date of Friday, August 7, 2026.
Saudi romantic comedy A Matter Of Life and Death is making its debut at the Red Sea Film Festival this week, and with that, a trailer has been released to give a first look. The film stars Yagoub Alfarhan (Norah) and Sarah Taibah (Mandoob) as an unlikely couple who find themselves drawn to each other over their shared sense of existential dread. Taibah plays a woman named Hayat, who is convinced she’s cursed and feels the need to break free of her overbearing aunts. On the other hand, Alfarhan plays Youssef, a shy doctor with a heart condition that causes him to repress his emotions. The film is directed by Anas Ba-Tahaf and is his second feature film. A Matter Of Life And Death is an international effort with Cairo-based Film Clinic and Dubai-based Front Row Productions producing. As well as partnering with Saudi Arabian company Arabia Pictures Group.
Comedian Ali Wong (Big Mouth) and actress Stephanie Hsu (The Wild Robot) are set to star as the lead voice casts in Netflix’s upcoming animated film Steps. The film is a retelling of Cinderella, focusing on Cinderella’s evil stepsisters as they find themselves in their own hijinks after Lilith (Wong), with the use of a stolen magic wand, turns Margot (Hsu) into a frog. The sisters end up getting separated, and now Lilith must team up with Cinderella to track Margot down and set the fairy tale back on track, and along the way, prove that some villains might be worthy of a happily ever after. The film aims to be released in 2026.
Industry Update: Linden Entertainment has signed on veteran managers Ryan Lucas and Amelia Shugrue to join their company, with an office based in Los Angeles. With Lucas being signed to the company, he brings about a fairly sizable roster of talent along with him from his time at 2AM Management. In a joint statement about Lucas and Shugrue joining, Linden’s partners said, “We are excited to welcome Ryan and Amelia to be a part of our team. Their reputation and clients align with our bespoke business philosophy, and we are looking forward to this next chapter with us.”
Veteran actress Jessica Alba shared some of her personal life and business life at the Red Sea Film Festival this week. She expresses why she founded her own production company and how women need to occupy more spaces as they are underrepresented. “[Women] are 50 percent of the population, we control 70 percent of the household income. I believe that we need to have more entertainment that speaks to us,” said Alba. She shared a few of her thoughts on the state of Latino representation in Hollywood, elaborating that a lot of Latino stories go untold and lots of Latino roles are extremely stereotypical and reductive. “[Hollywood] really loves to tell stories about cartels, drugs, and domestic workers. We’re a lot more than that, but again, if that’s the only way that they want to see us, and that’s the only way they do see us, it’s very difficult for them to expand their minds. So it takes people like me, where I’m in a position to be a producer, to be able to support filmmakers that look like me, that look like you all here in the audience, to be able to tell really authentic human stories,” stated Alba. Alba also recounted her work on the Fantastic Four films and explained how much she dreaded filming her nude scene on the bridge. The Red Sea Film Festival ends Saturday, December 13, 2025.
Studio Neon and the organization UFO have selected director Diana Peralta for a residency for filmmakers making their second feature-length films. The program is specifically for filmmakers working on their second film, who have spent two or more years since the release of their promising independent project but haven’t directed their second feature. The filmmakers approach the program with a script ready to move on to the development and financing phases. The film Peralta gained recognition for was De Lo Mio, which won best narrative feature at the Indie Memphis Film Festival, with HBO distributing the film. Peralta’s next film, titled No Love Lost, aims to be a psychological thriller about a group of sisters having their relationship tested after the youngest sister brings her new husband home, reopening old wounds and reigniting old bonds, parallel to strange, violent occurrences.
A new licensing deal has been made between Mdlbeast and Saudi Arabian studio Telefaz11 for music in Telefaz’s upcoming films. The deal aims to create a more robust soundscape for Telefaz11’s films, with Telefaz getting access to Mdlbeast’s producers, artist networks, and record catalog. “This partnership underscores our shared commitment to elevating creative and Saudi voices in films and cinema,” said Telefaz11 CEO Alaa Fadan. The deal brings Saudi Arabia’s most cutting-edge entertainment companies closer together and with better outreach to younger audiences.
