UAE’s “Al-Kameen” War Movie Based On Real Events Is Getting An International Release
The UAE’s highest-grossing Emirati and Arabic-language movie is now going international after Saban films acquired the international distribution rights for the film. Titled “Al-Kameen” which means “The Ambush” in Arabic, is a movie that was originally exclusively released in the UAE in November of 2021. However, that’s about to change after the Saban films’ acquisition, with it going globally, including in the USA and Canada, later this year.
“Al-Kameen” is based on the real-life events that happened in 2018 when enemy combatants ambushed UAE soldiers in Yemen who were on a routine patrol in a mountainous valley. The movie follows the harrowing story of what happened to the ambushed group of soldiers and the heroic actions of the Emarati battalion that went into the hostile area to rescue their brothers in arms.
According to The National and Vox distribution, the movie was a huge success in the UAE, quickly becoming one of the country’s leading movies in 2021, and with more than 170,000 admissions, at the time, it became the most successful Emirati and Arabic-language movie in the UAE’s history.
“Taken” director Pierre Morel helmed the movie, which featured over 400 cast and crew members, with the leading cast being all Emiratis, including Khalifa Albahr, Mansoor Alfeeli, Omar Bin Haider, Mohammed Ahmed, and Marwan Abdulla Saleh, just to name a few.
“The feedback we have received from audiences across the UAE has been overwhelming and I am so proud to have been a part of this fantastic project. I hope audiences continue to resonate with this inspirational story of brotherhood,” Director Pierre Morel told The National News at the time.
The movie is set to release internationally on October 28 and is going to digital on November first this year. This step is an interesting one by Saban Films as this movie will be their first foreign-language title film set for international markets by the company. According to the National, the company’s president, Bill Bromiley, stated that the acquisition was a response to the growing demand for more international content.
It’s refreshing to see movies that project the conflicts within the region from a Middle Eastern one instead of US soldiers; we saw that happen before with the movie “Mosul” back in 2019 on Netflix.
That movie followed a group of Iraqi commandos fighting within the Iraqi city of Mosul in search of an ISIS base and taking it out, all while achieving other side missions along the way to adapt to their increasingly escalating situation. The movie was based on the New Yorker article “The Desperate Battle to Destroy ISIS,” and was produced by Joe and Anthony Russo, who worked on several Marvel projects.
We Said This: Don’t Forget… Saudi Arabia’s Manga Productions Announces “Grendizer” Related “Project G” Collaboration
