The money keeps pouring in for film investments as Focus Features, a specialty division of Universal Pictures, secured $200 million from investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort, which will finance between 20-25 features, according to Hollywood Reporter.
This isn't Dresdner's first foray into the film industry as was the lead in multimillion-dollar fund Dune Entertainment that was set up to finance the highly regarded 20th Century Fox (NWS) portfolio of films.
Laura Fazio, a managing director of Dresdner, wisely said that making the deal with the specialty division reflected "the growth in the business and the appetite of the investors. It's not about how big the budgets are or the size of the pictures; it's about confidence in the company and its business plan."
While investment bankers have done a lot of these types of packages together, the trend to financing specialty divisions is relatively new, but not unheard of.
Another $150 million fund has been put together by Morgan Stanley called Marathon Funding which will finance 15 films for the Paramount Vantage specialty division.
Some of the films covered in the Focus Features deal will be David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises," starring Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts; Terry George's "Reservation Road," starring Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Connelly; Lajos Koltai's "Evening," starring Claire Danes, Toni Collette and Vanessa Redgrave; and Martin McDonagh's "In Bruges," starring Colin Farrell.
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