The Red Sea Film Festival has finally caught up with reality.
The Saudi Arabian Hollywood rat-f*ck has cancelled its December 2026 pile on. They say they’ll come back in some form in 2027.
Red Sea is (kinda) acknowledging war in the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia’s problems with Iran. It’s unclear if they made the decision, or no Hollywood A listers were willing to eat caviar while missiles flew by the press tent.
For the last several years the Hollywood crowd has embarrassed itself accepting trips and gifts from Red Sea while the Saudi government discriminates against women, gays, Jews, and journalists. (See Jamal Khashoggi.)
Red Sea has also made heavy sponsorship investments with other festivals, including Cannes. The know how to spread the money around.
Luckily now we won’t have to see the cast of “The Odyssey” and other 2026 hits trooping through the sand and ignoring human rights. And forget about the whole debacle with comedians who went to Jeddah a couple of years ago. All the jokes are over.
