Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros, Abu Dhabi Media Company and Aldar Properties will jointly invest $1 billion (Dh3.67bn) to build a theme park, hotel and multiplex cinemas in Abu Dhabi.
The three companies announced a "long-term, multi-faceted strategic alliance" that covers a wide range of Warner Bros concerns, notably a fund for film and video game production and publishing.
"The studio had agreed to jointly finance a $500 million (Dh1.83bn) fund for making movies and a similar $500m fund for developing and publishing video games," Chairman Barry Meyer was quoted as saying by Los Angeles Times.
The videogames part of the deal will be looked after by the Warner Bros Home Entertainment Group and will cover publishing and distribution rights for the company's titles throughout the region.
The first games to be released under the agreement will be Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal for Xbox 360 and Duck Amuck for Nintendo DS.
Additionally, Warner Bros will discuss further with its new partners the opportunities that might exist for future areas of investment, including digital distribution of content.
Warner will receive hefty fees for licensing its iconic Looney Tunes and other characters and movie themes from its vast library to a planned theme park and hotel project.
Warner will help design the new park, while Aldar will oversee the construction of the park and hotel project, which is expected to break ground in 2009 and open in 2011.
Meyer said the latest venture will create the largest park Warner Bros had designed or built in terms of both financial commitment and acreage. Warner Bros has Movie World theme parks on Australia's Gold Coast, in Madrid and in Bottrop, Germany.
This year, NBC Universal and Paramount announced licensing deals for new theme park ventures in Dubai.
Earlier reports said the venture will develop and produce "mutually agreed-upon, broad-appeal films" that Warner Bros will have the option to distribute internationally. Warner Bros will also work with Abu Dhabi Media Company to produce Arabiclanguage films for pan-Arabic distribution.
Film producer and executive Hunt Lowry will serve as the CEO of the company formed by this venture.
The Home Entertainment Group is also planning to work with Abu Dhabi Media Company to "build Abu Dhabi's infrastructure for the development of new media and digital delivery systems".
Plans for "next generation" digital distribution capabilities, in addition to traditional physical media distribution were also hinted at.
By Parag Deulgaonkar
© Emirates Today 2007
