Egypt's cinemas are about to be overwhelmed by comic films starring heavyweight comedians such as Adel Emam. Confident of good news from the box office, the producers of these comic movies are said to have poured huge sums of money – independently – into making big films in time for the week-long holiday marking Eid el-Adha (the Muslim feast of sacrifice). The fine weather in Cairo and other big cities of Egypt should also encourage veteran cinemagoers to head to the picture houses to watch these comic movies, say market observers. Regardless of the optimism of the filmmakers, the fierce competition will probably see some of them lose out. In addition to Emam, who has dominated the box office for three decades now, the other big superstars this season include Ahmed Helmi, Karim Abdel-Aziz and Ahmed el-Sakka. Emam, now in his seventies, seems to be ageless,unlike other Egyptian comedians. This season, he's starring in Alzheimer's, based on a screen play by Nader Salah and directed by Amr Arafa. This comic movie with a social message is about the sufferings of a wealthy man, who loses his memory because of Alzheimer's. His two sons (Fathi Abdel-Wahab and Ahmed Rezq) decide to shut him up in the family villa, which is the scene of funny situations, as their confused father insists on intervening in everybody's affairs, including the servants'. According to unconfirmed reports, Emam has agreed on a pay cut. Regrettably, he'll only be paid LE10 million instead of the LE15 million agreed on for this film. Meanwhile, Ahmed Helmi's Bolbol Hairan, written by Khaled Diab and directed by Khaled Marei, tells the tale of a young man torn between two sweethearts (Zeina and Sherri Adel). Karim Abdel-Aziz is starring in Fasel Wa Newasal (Let's Take a Break and Start Again). The cast includes Dina Fouad, Ahmed Rateb, Mohamed Lotfi and a child named Soli. Fasel Wa Newasel, written by Ahmed Fahmi and directed by Ahmed Nader Galal (scion of a filmmaking family), deals with the problems facing a cab driver from a popular district, who marries the daughter of a wealthy businessman against her family's wishes. He, his wife and their son are involved in a car accident, in which the wife dies. There is a big spat when the businessman then tries to seize the boy, his grandson, in order to give him the kind of privileged upbringing his poor father cannot offer him. An expert from South Africa was drafted in to codesign the action scenes in Fasel Wa Newasel, while the production company paid 30 taxi drivers LE100 each per day to take part in the car chases in this film. It seems that these comic films will edge out the more romantic movies in the Eid season, such as Aswar el-Qamar (Walls of the Moon), starring actress Mona Zaki, Asser Yassin and Amr Saad; 678, starring Boshra and Basem el-Samra; and Al- Shouq (Desire), starring actresses Robi and Sawsan Badr.
