Arab News<\/a>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
RIYADH: The first day of Joy Forum 2025 kicked off Thursday at the SEF Arena in Boulevard City, bringing together global leaders, athletes, creators and decisionmakers to explore the future of entertainment and Saudi Arabia\u2019s expanding role in the sector.<\/p>\n
UFC President Dana White opened the forum in a session titled \u201cUnconventional Pioneer,\u201d reflecting on his journey in turning combat sports into a global entertainment industry.<\/p>\n
White praised Saudi support for boxing and combat sports, saying: \u201cSince Turki Alalshikh entered the world of boxing, the impact has been clear and everyone felt the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
He highlighted the Kingdom\u2019s role in creating new markets, innovative formats and integrated experiences that have become global benchmarks.<\/p>\n
The second session, \u201cGOAT Narrative,\u201d featured White alongside NBA legend Shaquille O\u2019Neal and tennis icon Novak Djokovic, discussing how sports legends evolve into platforms that build long-term legacy.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neal described Saudi efforts in sport as \u201can exceptional achievement that changed the game,\u201d while White said the Kingdom\u2019s backing \u201crevived the world of boxing and combat sports.\u201d<\/p>\n
Djokovic expressed his gratitude for being part of the forum, calling it \u201ca remarkable event.\u201d<\/p>\n
Entertainment executives also took the stage at the event.<\/p>\n
WWE President Nick Khan and General Entertainment Authority CEO Faisal Bafarat discussed the Kingdom\u2019s rapid rise as a hub for global sports entertainment.<\/p>\n
Bafarat highlighted the historic agreement to bring WrestleMania to Riyadh Season 2027, noting that a decade ago there was no comprehensive concept of entertainment in the Kingdom.<\/p>\n
Khan praised Saudi Arabia as \u201cone of the most powerful and successful\u201d WWE partners.<\/p>\n
Sessions on film, television,and digital media showcased the Kingdom\u2019s ambitions as a creative hub.<\/p>\n
Korean actors Lee Byung-hun and Lee Jung-jae, and director Yoon Je-kyoon, discussed South Korea\u2019s production model for turning local content into globally exportable intellectual property.<\/p>\n
Writers and producers including Derek Kolstad, Terence Winter,and Alik Sakharov explored emerging production ecosystems, the role of data, and partnerships between platforms and creators.<\/p>\n
Netflix VP Ben Amadasun highlighted the global reach of Arab content, noting the popularity of Saudi productions such as \u201cAlRawabi School for Girls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adnan Kayal, CEO of Entertainment & Content at Sela, said Saudi Arabia was entering new creative fields daily, calling the Kingdom\u2019s position \u201cgrowing\u201d and welcoming international collaboration.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe story of Saudi Arabia in cinema is still at the beginning. Today, the time has come to show the world the creativity and competitive power of the Saudi people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The day concluded with \u201cStream to Mainstream,\u201d a session on digital creators featuring MrBeast and Speed, moderated by actor Terry Crews.<\/p>\n
MrBeast reflected on his rise to global stardom, saying: \u201cI focused on big ideas \u2014 sometimes crazy and unique \u2014 and set challenges that entertained people around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speed hinted at a new sport, saying: \u201cI might create a new sport \u2026 and launch it in Saudi Arabia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joy Forum 2025 continues on Friday with sessions on entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, theme parks, Bollywood and intellectual property.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.arabnews.jp \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joy Forum 2025 continues on Friday with sessions on entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, theme parks, Bollywood and intellectual property Arab News RIYADH: The first day of Joy Forum 2025 kicked off Thursday at the SEF Arena in Boulevard City, bringing together global leaders, athletes, creators and decisionmakers to explore the future of entertainment and Saudi Arabia\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2097135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2097134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Global-stars-industry-leaders-highlight-Saudi-Arabias-role-in-shaping.webp.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2097134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2097134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2097134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2097136,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2097134\/revisions\/2097136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2097135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2097134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2097134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2097134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}