The Hedge Funds Weblog

The global audio visual sector is expected by analysts to be worth $1.3 trillion by 2008 and hedge fund managers have wasted no time in attaching themselves to the high return sector of film financing.

Hedge funds investing in film, so far, include Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and eBay founder Jeff Skoll, each have a fledgling film company. Billionaire Phillip Anschutz is financing big budget films, David Sacks, a founder of PayPal, financed "Thank You for Smoking," for $7.5 million, and it has worldwide gross of over $27 million.

Bob Yari, who made millions in real estate development, is backing the production of numerous films. Bill Pohlad, a multi-millionaire whose family owns the Minnesota Timberwolves, made "Brokeback Mountain" for $14 million and it has grossed $184 million worldwide.

A recent $220 million deal with an individual producer included investors such as J.P. Morgan, D.E. Shaw, and GE Capital. George Soros also bought the DreamWorks library in a deal that valued the 59 film library portfolio at $900 million, later releasing all of them.

Then there's the Tom Cruise/Wagner team, and what they call "an unprecedented multi-faceted financing deal" with "two top hedge funds." The deal will reportedly provide $100 million in revolving funds, which will be renewed annually, with an option to up the funding to as much as $200 to $300 million per year.

Now, 20th Century Fox is set to announce a hedge fund-backed film financing deal worth more than $520m thanks to the box office success of Borat and The Devil Wears Prada.

Personally, I think movies will get better if there are broader minds and fewer boundaries behind them, maybe we'll start to see the "bigger picture"

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