The world’s first Shariah-compliant movie fund, which is set to film and produce its own Hollywood-style story of a UAE hero, has reached more than $40m in just four weeks, the fund’s manager has told Arabian Business.
Funding for Antar: The Black Knight is expected to reach $85-90m by April, half of which will come from UAE investors.
Around 50 percent [of investors are] from the Middle East and 50 percent from the Europe.
The film, which is set to include a string of Hollywood “A-list” actors, will tell the story of the UAE-based hero Antar, the son of an Arab prince and an African slave who fought for his freedom to become a legendary explorer warrior.
The movie, which is scheduled to be filmed in Morocco and could also include scenes shot in the UAE, is the first instalment in a trilogy of films and will be released in 2012. It is being slated at the world’s first Shariah-compliant ‘friendly’ movie, which is funded by a fully Shariah-compliant fund.
We can hardly wait to see the “A-list” actors who will be in this production…
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/first-sharia-compliant-movie-fund-raises-40m-365739.html?tab=Article
Well, they may not have technically been Shariah financed, but two of Moustapha Akkad’s films were funded by Moumar Qaddafi in the 1970s (“The Message” and “Halloween”)… Not sure whether I’d watch a movie paid for by Shariah investments or by a Muslim dictator.