Projects produced by the companies will air exclusively on MBC Group-owned streamer Shahid VIP throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa, with MGM handling co-production and distribution for the rest of the world.
The new agreement expands existing ties between the companies after MBC Group served as a regional partner for the upcoming MGM series Last Light and Billy the Kid. ‘We have 30 years of experience telling stories that touch the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the MENA region. Now with a great and global partner like MGM, we’re extending our reach beyond this region’, commented MBC Group CEO Sam Barnett said.
Mark Burnett, MGM Worldwide Television chairman, added: ‘With our content and talent partnerships in France, Australia, the Nordics, Latin America and now the MENA, we are perfectly positioned to continue building our international expansion of signature premium content together with Rola Bauer (President, International Television Productions) and the incredible team we have assembled’.
Waleed bin Ibrahim Al Ibrahim, MBC Group Chairman, remarked that the deal represents a ‘major step forward’ in diversifying the group and building on its current strengths, while MGM International TV Productions’ Bauer added that it will ‘connect storytellers from east and west’.
The company also recently inked a coproduction partnership with NENT Group to develop original series, in addition to an exclusive first-look deal with international actor, producer and director Simon Baker.
MBC Studios’ recent and current productions include: action film Kandahar, which stars Gerard Butler as a CIA agent who attempts a harrowing escape from Afghanistan; Rashash, which recounts Saudi police’s investigation of a notorious criminal who left a trail of destruction in the 1980s; Bride of Beirut, a love story that over its three seasons explores issues of generational conflict; and Desert Warrior, an epic starring Anthony Mackie and set in seventh-century Arabia.
