HONG KONG – Diversified Japanese entertainment group Avex has finally settled details of its joint venture production fund with Hong Kong's Media Asia and Media Asia's parent eSun Holdings.
Companies say that the $50 million PAMIEM Film Fund is "primarily a vehicle for producing films targeted at the Asian markets," though it is also intended as a talent development unit.
Venture will be 50% owned by Media Asia, with 40% owned by the Avex Entertainment parent group and the remaining 10% controlled by Avex's Hong Kong-based film co-production subsidiary Avex Asia.
The eSun/Media Asia group and the Avex companies will equally divide costs and investments, with an investment ceiling of $25 million each over a five year period. By sharing costs, they say, they can make movies with larger budgets, share risk and improve competitivity in the Chinese and Japanese markets.
Projects emerging from the venture will be distributed by Avex in Japan and Korea and by Media Asia in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and South East Asia.
So far, the companies say that no projects have been identified, nor will they commit to a target number of productions each year. (In earlier drafts of the JV the two companies said that they would produce two or three films per year through the fund.) Productions will be selected by a vetting committee which reports to a board of six directors.
Avex also has a previously announced funding joint venture with Bill Kong's Edko Films focused more on emerging talent. With a $16.8 million float the Irresistible Films fund is managed on Avex and Edko's behalf by "Infernal Affairs" producer Nansun Shi and former Media Asia exec Jeffrey Chan. They have now green lighted two productions, "Claustrophobia," and "Strawberry Cliff," which is now in post.
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