Movie producer predicts more Mideast financing

MOVIE PROJECT: Anthony Quinn in the 1977 film The Message - the first movie to be produced on the subject of Islam.

Hollywood movie makers should look increasingly to the Middle East for finance as the global credit crisis deepens, the producer of a new $131 million film about Islam has said.

Oscar Zoghbi, producer of The Messenger of Peace - only the second movie of its kind on the subject of Islam following 1977's The Message starring Anthony Quinn, said US-Middle East partnerships made good sense.

"It (the global credit crunch) has made some dent in the concept of raising finance for movies I'm sure and these partnerships are good for both sides," he told Arabian Business in a telephone interview from his London office.

He applauded the recent move by the Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) to form a film financing subsidiary that plans to spend more than $1 billion developing, financing and producing as many as 40 movies over the next five years.

"We may see other similar ventures in the future and I would certainly support that. It makes perfect sense," he said.

But he added that he had not experienced any problems with raising money for The Messenger of Peace, which is due to start filming in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Morocco in early 2009 with a release date pencilled in for the following year.

"A substantial part of the finance is already in place. We have had some very serious inquiries," Lebanese-born Zoghbi said, adding that he expects the project to be "oversubscribed" once other investors come on board.

But the producer added that he was not looking for investors purely for their financial input.

"While we expect to make a lot of money from this project, we also want to succeed in our objective of building bridges between cultures and it is very important to get that message across.

"The core objective is to not only tap into a market of 1.5 billion Muslims eager to experience a powerful and successful film conveying the true values of their religion but also a global market of non-Muslims."

He added: "This will not be a propaganda film for Muslims but the image of Islam has been changed since 9/11 and this project can help to address this."

Zoghbi revealed that he expects his project to beat the box office and DVD sales success of Mel Gibson's 2004 film Passion of the Christ which made $800 million.

"This is our target to beat, for sure, and why not. We believe there is huge global interest in our subject to make this happen."

Casting for the movie will take place in January and although he wouldn't give names, he hinted that Hollywood stars could be involved.

Dubai-based Millennium Finance Corporation has been appointed to attract a limited number of "high quality co-investors" for the project, and investment roadshows are planned in the UAE and wider Gulf region in November.

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