Moses Babatope's Nile Media Entertainment Group, Chee Keong Cheung's UK-based Action Xtreme, and Idris Elba's 22Summers have formed a three-way production partnership, Action Films Africa (AFA), to produce a slate of commercially driven action features originating from West Africa.
The first film, to be announced shortly, is scheduled for Q4 2026, with a second to follow in Q1 2027. Cheung will direct the first title and produce for Action Xtreme; Babatope will produce for Nile Motion Pictures. Elba and Gina Carter, 22Summers' creative director, will executive produce, and Elba is set to direct one film in the collaboration. Nile Entertainment will handle African distribution.
Beyond the slate itself, the partners describe the venture as an attempt to build a long-term production ecosystem for genre filmmaking on the continent, pairing production with training and mentorship programs for local creatives. The stated goal is a sustainable pipeline of African action content that can reach global theatrical and streaming audiences.
"Action is one of the world's most commercially powerful genres, yet Africa remains largely underrepresented in that space," Babatope said, adding that the venture is "not simply about making films" but about combining production, talent development and distribution so African-made action content can travel.
Elba framed the slate as a proof of concept for further backing: "Success breeds data and data breeds investment."
The announcement builds on the first-look agreement Action Xtreme and Nile signed in September 2025, which produced "Son of the Soil," the Lagos-set action thriller directed by Cheung, shot entirely in Nigeria with Nigerian producers and lead actors, and released in Nigerian cinemas on October 31. Cheung cited that production as the catalyst: making the film in Nigeria, he said, made him appreciate the depth of talent and stories on the continent deserving a global stage.
The new structure adds star power and a third production partner to that foundation. 22Summers was launched in June 2024 by Elba and factual producer Diene Petterle as a full-service company working across documentary and scripted projects, with Elba's Green Door Pictures — producer of his directorial debut "Yardie" — and Petterle's Drumroll Films incorporated at launch. Its first announced production was the documentary series "Erased: WWII Heroes of Color" for National Geographic, Disney+ and Hulu; more recent credits include the Lionsgate space thriller "Above the Below" and the Apple TV psychological thriller "Bola," and the company is in post-production on the Netflix feature "Luther – The Day Will Come." Carter serves as its creative director.
Nile Media Entertainment Group, one of Africa's largest film production, distribution and exhibition companies, operates Nile Motion Pictures, Nile Entertainment, Nile Cinemas, Nile Foundation and Nile Studio Labs. Nile Entertainment also serves as West African theatrical distributor for Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures under its partnership with UIP.
Whatever AFA's formal relationship to the 2025 first-look agreement — the announcement doesn't say — the concrete commitments are new: a named West African action label, two productions dated within six months of each other, African distribution assigned to Nile, and directing and executive-production commitments from Elba.