From Furious 7 to Welcome Back and White Collar DXB, the UAE has played a lead role in several blockbuster movies and television shows – and many more are on the way. We round up the big projects filming here over the next few months. Coming soon, to a location near you, the cream of international movie making. The coming months mark an unprecedented time in the UAE's fledgling film industry, as the country prepares to take centre stage in an increasing number of high-profile movies. Hot on the heels of last year's blockbuster bonanza, during which the country played host to Hollywood films Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens and Furious 7, as well as Bollywood movies Bang Bang and Welcome Back, the cameras will soon start rolling on no fewer than four major international productions, along with several television projects. Here are the ones we are looking forward to the most.
1 War Machine
Brad Pitt’s latest film, a satire about the war in Afghanistan and one of the first films projects from video-streaming service Netflix, is set to shoot in the desert around the capital from October 20 to November 13. That means one of Hollywood’s biggest stars will be here for almost a month – and for celeb watchers, yes, his wife Angelina Jolie and their kids will be dropping in for at least part of that time. The couple have reportedly shunned the five-star hotels the rest of the cast are staying in, in favour of renting a villa close to the set so the whole family can be together in privacy. A call for local former military personnel to act as extras went out, while a number of local crew are also working on the shoot.
2 Star Trek Beyond
The third chapter in the rebooted Star Trek franchise is coming to Dubai, which will be portraying a "vertical" alien city, for the first two weeks of next month. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg and the rest of the crew of the Starship Enterprise will be joined by about 1,000 extras, who were selected after a three-day casting call in Dubai Studio City last month. Many of the successful applicants are expected to play aliens. The scale of the casting suggests this will be the biggest movie shoot in Dubai since the Tom Cruise action-thriller Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011).
3 Kung Fu Yoga
The exact dates for the filming of Jackie Chan's latest martial-arts romp have yet to be confirmed, but it sounds like the shoot will overlap with War Machine in the capital, as we've heard of local crew members turning down a job on one to work on the other. In terms of global box-office takings, the Hong Kong actor is a much bigger star than Pitt. Chan placed second on this year's highest-paid actors list, his US$50million (Dh183.6m) income beaten only by Iron Man and Avengers star Robert Downey Jr. Pitt's not-inconsequential $16m (Dh58.8) did not even earn him a place in the top 20 – he was tied with American comedian Jonah Hill in 28th position.
4 Physique TV
Local health, lifestyle and well-being channel Physique TV has a variety of shows that will be filming in Dubai over the next few weeks. Smaller-scale local programmes such as Yalla Dance, travel show On the Go or lifestyle magazine The Good Life can't compete in terms of star power with Pitt or the Star Trek cast, but it is such shows that are the bread and butter of the local industry. Without a constant stream of smaller productions, there would be little point in talented professionals living here to be available when the big boys roll into town – so let's hear it for the little guys of the broadcasting world, too.
5 Dishoom
It's not only Hollywood invading the UAE this autumn. One of Bollywood's biggest movies of the year is also set to land in the capital next month. Director Rohit Dhawan will work with his brother, actor Varun, for the first time on the action movie, as well as Welcome Back star John Abraham. The first block of filming has already taken place in India's Mehboob Studio, while the Abu Dhabi shoot is expected to take in about 30 locations in and around the capital.
6 White Collar DXB
Turning our attention to the small screen, Nomad Productions began shooting trials for this upcoming boxing-themed reality-TV show last month. In the programme, the first episode of which was broadcast on OSN Sports last Wednesday, two teams of aspiring boxers will train at separate gyms in Dubai, with weekly episodes following their endeavours as they face off against each other and a team of reserves who aim to knock out one of the contestants and claim their place. The show will culminate with a big fight-night finale next month, when the city’s white-collar champs will be crowned.
7 Rugby World Cup
Sports programming lacks the glitz and glamour of high-profile movie shoots, but big sporting events are always popular and there’s a year-round calendar of international events that are covered by local broadcasters. The current big event on OSN’s schedule is the Rugby World Cup, which kicked off in England (and Cardiff, Wales) last week. A panel of experts, headed by veteran British sports broadcaster Jim Rosenthal, is covering every kick of the competition for regional audiences from OSN’s purpose-built new studios in Dubai, right up until the final at Twickenham on October 31.
cnewbould@thenational.ae
