"Sukkar 2" Gets Streaming Date

The second entry of the Egyptian family musical film "Sukkar" will make its streaming debut exclusively on the "Shahid" streaming platform on Friday, June 6.

The film draws inspiration from U.S. writer Jean Webster’s epistolary novel “Daddy-Long-Legs” and is touted as the Arab world’s first musical film in the Western canon.

“Sukkar” features singer Hala Turk, who rose to prominence after being an “Arabs Got Talent” contestant in 2011, in the lead role alongside a wide range of new young talents from the Arab world.

The cast also includes Magda Zaki, Mohamed Tharwat, Reham Elshanawany, Yasmina, Mohamed Harby, Moataz Hesham, and others.

The official logline for the film reads:"A beautiful day turns disastrous when the city is struck by a chickenpox outbreak, affecting children and workers at the orphanage. While a doctor develops a vaccine, the children seek help from a magician. Amid these events, Sukkar receives an invitation to the annual circus, where she uncovers a truth that turns her life—and the lives of her friends—upside down."

The first entry hit cinemas across the Middle East and North Africa on October 12, 2023 by Beirut-based Empire Entertainment, which is one of the region’s top movie distributors.

It is scripted by Kuwaiti writer Heba Mishari Hamadai, helmed by Egyptian director Tamer Mahdy, and produced by Saudi-owned broadcasting powerhouse MBC Group in its first.

“Sukkar” also features original songs penned by Hamada and scored by Egyptian composer Ehad Abdel Wahed.

The film's lead producer is Samar Akrouk, the group director of production at MBC Group, alongside MBC executive producer Lara Ghazal Nassif and MBC producer Alaa Awada, with executive producer Tamer Mortada and producer Mostafa Al Awadi from Egypt’s Aroma Productions.