Abu Dhabi plants seeds of $1bn Hollywood-style film industry

ADMC forms a film financing subsidiary that plans to develop up to 40 films in five years.

Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) has formed a film financing subsidiary that plans to spend more than US$1bn (Dh3.67bn) developing, financing and producing as many as 40 feature films over the next five years, it was announced yesterday. Based in Abu Dhabi, the company, called imagenation abu dhabi, will form joint ventures with Hollywood and other international producers to create globally distributed movies and digital content, while also working with Middle Eastern film-makers to produce Arabic language and dual-language films with crossover appeal. ADMC is also the publisher of The National. "The idea behind imagenation is to create a relationship with the filmmaking community so we can develop the skills in Abu Dhabi to grow an industry," said Edward Borgerding, the chief executive of ADMC.

Mohamed Khalaf al Mazrouei, the chairman of both imagenation and ADMC, said establishing a strong global media company was a component of the emirate's investment strategy. "Abu Dhabi has established itself as a major player in the global economy, as evidenced through recent activity in the energy, real estate and transportation sectors," he said. "Media is no different." The first of the Hollywood partners will be announced within weeks, Mr Borgerding said. The company has already set up offices within ADMC and hired Stefan Brunner, a German who recently helped co-produce animated series for Marvel Entertainment, as its chief financial officer. Imagenation's first film project will be announced before the end of the year.

"We will make movies with hundreds of actors and hundreds of directors, and our movies will probably win Academy Awards because these kinds of guys are good at that, which is why I wanted to do business with them," said Mr Borgerding. But for the former Disney executive from Michigan who was hired in March to lead the newly rebranded ADMC, the most compelling dimension of the new subsidiary is its mission to "develop a management class" from local talent who will be able to sustain the business of making movies in the emirate for decades to come.

"We are importing the Hollywood professionalism here, and we will put it together with talented professionals in the region, so that there can be a transfer of knowledge of how the industry is operated at the world-class level, which is how it is done in the United States and London," he said. The venture represents the second wave of Hollywood alliances forged by the Government-owned ADMC, which also owns an array of television, radio, print and digital media assets. The first was the multibillion dollar deal signed last autumn with Warner Brothers and Aldar Properties to build a theme park, hotel complex and chain of movie theatres. That deal also created two film funds - one for Arabic-language films - and another for the development of video games. The partnership's first film, the family adventure comedy Shorts, directed by Robert Rodriguez of Spy Kids fame, is now in production.

Imagenation, however, will form its own, separate partnerships with Hollywood and Middle Eastern film-makers. These alliances, along with the company's recently formed joint venture with Arvato Middle East Sales, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann, the German-based media company, to create the digital media brand Getmo, were part of a larger effort to become a global media player. But unlike most of its international competitors, imagenation will face the added challenge of having to balance the appetites of the global media marketplace with the cultural sensitivities of the Gulf. "There's a line that we will not cross," Mr Borgerding said. "We will certainly not be involved in any movies that are insulting to Islam or insult the leaders of the country or the region. All of our partners are completely on the same page. There's not an upside in creating a huge problem with the region. It's not good for business. "But other than that, we will make normal movies." @Email:[e-mail]