Furthering the links between the United Arab Emirates and Hollywood, a venture controlled by the government of Abu Dhabi is launching a production company with a $1-billion-plus fund to make movies and digital content in partnership with three as-yet-unnamed Los Angeles producers and other international filmmakers.
Abu Dhabi Media Co., through a newly formed subsidiary called Imagenation Abu Dhabi, plans to make eight films a year over the next five years, primarily for the English-speaking market. Imagenation will announce the first of its production deals next week at the Toronto Film Festival. The U.S. companies plan to open offices in Abu Dhabi.
Imagenation will now also assume oversight of Abu Dhabi Media's year-old entertainment partnership with Warner Bros., which has had little to show for itself since it was announced with fanfare last September.
The parties said at the time that they would each contribute to a $1-billion fund to produce films and video games.
But the arrangement has so far resulted in just one film, "Shorts," a fantasy story about a group of misfit kids who find a box with mysterious powers. The film, written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, will be released by Warner Bros. next August.
The formation of Imagenation is part of Abu Dhabi Media's strategy to become a major player on the global entertainment stage. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Abu Dhabi with offices in Cairo, Dubai and Washington, the company employs 1,800 people in TV, radio and publishing, including a recently launched Mideast-based newspaper called the National.
In recent years, Abu Dhabi and smaller neighbor Dubai, flush with cash from the oil boom, have made deals with such studios as DreamWorks Animation, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Marvel Entertainment to build theaters, theme parks and other facilities.
Imagenation and Abu Dhabi Media CEO Edward Borgerding said the new fund and the impending deal with the trio of U.S. production companies were "an extension of creating content for a global market."
Borgerding, who was an executive in Walt Disney Co.'s international division from 1979 to 2000, said the partners planned to make a diverse slate of commercial movies with budgets of $10 million to $50 million. He said Imagenation would be involved creatively from development through production. "We'll have an oar in the water, as it were."
