Founded in 1919 as a chain of movie theaters, Empire is Sony Pictures\' exclusive theatrical distributor in the MENA region. Empire International Gulf (Dubai) and Allied Film Distributors (Cairo) cooperate with the Beirut head office. In 2022, the company partnered with BG Film, a Turkish film production and distribution company, to bring Turkish movies to the region. In 2021, Mario Jr. Haddad joined Gianluca Chakra in launching Front Row Productions, which debuted with Netflix\'s first Arabic film and adaptation of the Italian film PERFECT STRANGERS.