Brothers get boost

Weinstein funding reaches $1.2 billion

By IAN MOHR

'Lucky Number Slevin' is among the pics the newly enriched Weinstein Co. has poised for release this year.

The Weinstein Co. said Thursday that it has added $500 million in additional debt financing to the war chest of $490 million in equity that Bob and Harvey Weinstein raised last fall through their financial advisers at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Company said it also has another $200 million in its coffers through vendor advances and commercial arrangements, bringing TWC's total financing to well over $1 billion.

The newly added TWC credit facility has received AAA ratings from both Moody's Investor Service and Standard & Poor's.

Expressing gratitude to their partners, the Weinsteins said in a statement, "We can now concentrate on what we love most, making movies."

TWC's slate includes the Sundance entry "Lucky Number Slevin," Anthony Minghella's "Breaking & Entering" and "Scary Movie 4."

It has the CG-animated pic "Hoodwinked" in release.

Goldman, Perry Capital, Quinta Communications, TF1, Mark Cuban's WPP and Vivi Nevoa are all investors in TWC.

The move to close on additional financing Wednesday seals a first chapter of sorts in TWC's bid for funding.

When the brothers said they'd exit Miramax Films to strike out on their own last year, speculation ran rampant over how much funding would be available to them to create a new media empire.

In early press reports, the $1 billion figure became a sort of magic number, as Wall Streeters speculated on how much the Weinsteins could raise. They are now at the $1.2 billion mark.

Since their initial round of financing came through, TWC has launched a homevid unit, partnering with Genius Products, and has crafted a partnership with Rainbow Media Holdings to create or acquire cable TV product.

The company's pay TV outlet for films is still a question mark. But the banner is reportedly in talks with a number of outlets, including MGM, which has slots for movie product on Showtime.