MONEY STARTS FLOWING INTO MOVIES AGAIN

In what today’s (Friday) New York Times described as “the strongest indication yet that money is starting to flow back into the movie industry,” Village Roadshow Pictures Group, a unit of Australia’s media conglomerate Village Roadshow Ltd., said Thursday that it had closed on a $1-billion facility to finance its current slate of films in which it is partnered with Warner Bros. The deal marks the largest financial transaction since the economic downturn cut the flow of credit to film producers two years ago. The deal was arranged by JPMorgan Chase and Rabobank in association with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. In a statement, Greg Basser, CEO of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, said: “At a time when capital is at a premium, we’ve managed to attract the confidence of a diverse group of investors.”