Gravity raises Packer’s new media outfit, RatPac Entertainment

Friday, 21 February 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

This story appears in the 10 February 2014 issue of Forbes Asia

By Lucinda Schmidt When James Packer teamed up with Hollywood movie director Brett Ratner to form an independent film company in late 2012, Packer described it as ‘a small private investment’. Certainly his initial $ 100 million outlay is chicken feed for a megabillionaire. Fourteen months on, however, it’s clear that the pair’s RatPac Entertainment is landing some big deals in the US. It’s also rapidly morphing well beyond the movie business – and now has its sights set firmly on the Chinese market and perhaps India. “We consider RatPac to be a media company, encompassing film production, studio film financing, a television arm, a documentary films division, an involvement in book publishing and, of course, RatPac China,” says Ratner, who directed the ‘Rush Hour film’ series and ‘X-Men 3: The Last stand’.

In September RatPac joined with Dune Entertainment to sign a $ 450 million deal with Warner Bros. to co-finance up to 75 films with the studio over four years. Their first film was the space thriller ‘Gravity’, which has been a huge box-office hit, and their second, the boxing comedy ‘Grudge Match’, was released in the US at Christmas. “We have jumped into the film business in a huge way,” says Ratner. “If things go well, the financing (with Warner) could very well end up being over $ 1 billion.” He also notes that RatPac will take a 25% interest in some Warner films, on top of the overall investment, as it did with Clint Eastwood’s ‘Jersey Boys’. Outside of the Warner deal RatPac closed a three-year financing deal with Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment in December and is the independent financier of Russell Crowe’s directorial debut, ‘The Water Diviner’. RatPac has also recently signed co-financing deals for films by high-profile directors Cameron Crowe, Warren Beatty, David Fincher and Roman Polanski. “As you can see, we are a director-driven company and have secured deals with some of the most successful and legendary film directors in the industry,” says Ratner, adding that RatPac is also producing a ‘Horrible Bosses’ sequel and ‘Hong Kong Fooey’, starring Eddie Murphy. Broader media strategy RatPac’s broader media strategy includes buying at least one television production company, a deal with US online TV-and-movie subscriber service Netflix to create documentaries and publishing Ben Mezrich’s next book, ‘Seven Wonders’. It’s a return to Packer’s media-company heritage but with a 21st-century focus on the booming global market for film. Then there’s Asia. Packer, through his growing casino interests in Macau, has seen firsthand the opportunities in the Chinese entertainment sector. “The movie business is global; we’re looking at China, India and throughout Asia,” he says. RatPac’s plans include investing in Chinese content specifically for the Chinese consumer, as well as creating content that appeals to US and Asian audiences alike. “RatPac is a chance to bring together Western and Eastern culture,” says Packer, who counts Tom Cruise, Robert De Niro and Beatty as friends. As with his casino business, the aim is to build a global entertainment brand. “The whole RatPac thing has got lots of opportunity,” he says. As to how the Australian casino mogul and the blockbuster Hollywood director joined forces, Ratner says the two have been friends for almost a decade and have invested in other businesses together. They’d always talked about doing something in media, but the timing wasn’t right. The idea for the name came from Packer, combining and shortening their two surnames, while also referencing Frank Sinatra’s Hollywood Rat Pack with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. “Our partnership is based on friendship, and even though there is a contract between us for RatPac, neither one of us has read it or intends to,” says Ratner. “A handshake is good enough for both of us.”