Imagenation Abu Dhabi and Participant Media announce first film fund investments

The Crazies is a horror/thriller teaming Participant Media and Imagenation Abu Dhabi with Overture Films, which will distribute in the United States and Canada, with Paramount Vantage handling international sales. Participant Media and Imagenation Abu Dhabi are joining forces with Summit Entertainment on the family comedy FURRY VENGEANCE, which Summit will distribute in the United States. Summit will also handle international sales for the rest of the world. International sales for both films continues at the Cannes Film Festival.

The Crazies is inspired by George A. Romero's 1974 cult classic of the same name, in which the inhabitants of a small Iowa town are beset by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply. The film stars Timothy Olyphant (Damages), Radha Mitchell (Thick As Thieves, Finding Neverland), Danielle Panabaker (MR Brooks), Joe Anderson (High Life, Becoming Jane) and directed by Breck Eisner (Beyond) from a script by Ray Wright and Scott Kosar. Producers include Michael Aguilar, Dean Georgaris and Rob Cowan, with George A. Romero serving as executive producer. The Crazies has wrapped principle photography on May 8th, 2009 in Iowa and is scheduled for release in the U.S. on February 26, 2010.

Furry Vengeance stars Brendan Fraser (Journey to the Center of the Earth, the Mummy) as a man who uproots his family from the big city to launch a new housing subdivision in the Oregon wilderness where he encounters a unique group of protesters who don't want their homes disturbed. Production is scheduled to begin in July 2009 for an April 2010 release. Furry Vengeance is being directed by Roger Kumble (The Sweetest Thing, Cruel Intentions) from a script by Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert and produced by Robert Simonds and Keith Goldberg.

Imagenation Abu Dhabi, CEO Ed Borgerding said:

"We are very pleased that our partnership with Participant is off to such a strong start with these two films representing completely different genres. The speed in which this fund has become a reality and the robust pipeline of projects in development bodes very well for our collaboration."

Participant Media, CEO Jim Berk said, "This partnership allows us to move aggressively in the development, production and release of quality feature films. The Crazies and Furry Vengeance are high quality, commercial films which both entertain and inspire. Both are representative of the types of productions that we look forward to partnering on in the future."