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Japanese Firm in $100-Million Hollywood Deal

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Times Staff Writer

The electronics firm JVC/Victor Co. of Japan today will disclose plans for the largest Japanese investment in Hollywood to date--an injection of more than $100 million in a new film company to be run by former 20th Century Fox president Lawrence Gordon.

Gordon, who has produced such films as “Field of Dreams,” “Die Hard” and “48 Hours,” said JVC’s investment in the new company, Largo Entertainment, was worth “well in excess of $100 million, with plenty more capital to expand.” He declined to provide details.

The Japanese firm, which enjoyed $6.2 billion in sales last year, is best known for developing the VHS format for video cassette players. It is one of the world’s largest makers of audio and video equipment.

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Gordon said Largo Entertainment eventually will move into other areas of the business, possibly television production. “This is a company that’s going to expand into other areas of entertainment as opportunities arise,” he said.

Although JVC is putting up all of the capital, Largo Entertainment will be structured as a joint venture, with Gordon as chairman, chief executive officer and 50% partner. No other top staff positions have been announced yet.

JVC’s agreement with Gordon dwarfs other Japanese investments in Hollywood. Late last year, a cement mogul from Osaka invested $50 million in a start-up studio called Apricot Entertainment and hired his friend, former TV producer Naofumi Okamoto, to run it.

Other Japanese investors have been content to enter into joint venture production agreements with Westerners. Among the most active Japanese firms are Shochiku-Fuji, which is investing in films by producers Jeremy Thomas and Edward Pressman; CST Communications, a joint venture of C. Itoh, Suntory Ltd. and Tokyo Broadcasting System that has invested in MGM/UA films; ZERON Group, a venture capital firm partnered with Vestron; and Fuji-Sankei Communications, which is financing producer David Puttnam’s films.

These ventures--considered alongside JVC’s new investment--suggest that despite persistent rumors that the Japanese will buy a big Hollywood studio, most Japanese companies would prefer to wade into the risky business of movie making on less ambitious terms.

Gordon noted that JVC had considered buying a studio before deciding to finance a start-up operation. “Obviously they’ve looked at everything,” Gordon said. “But as you know, some of the studios are overpriced. So I think they’ve decided this is the entry.”

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Sony--one of a handful of Japanese firms rumored to be interested in buying a Hollywood studio--so far has done no more than set up a tiny movie production subsidiary in New York.

Largo won’t be associated exclusively with any one studio, Gordon said, but its films will be distributed to American theaters through the major studios.

Executives at JVC, which until now had not made any major investments in Hollywood movies, first approached Gordon through his attorney about six months ago.

Gordon indicated that his investors will give him wide latitude to make the kind of films he wants, and added that he hopes to eventually produce a slate of six films a year.

“It’s very exciting to realize you don’t have to ask anyone to make a film,” said Gordon, who has produced all of his films through major Hollywood studios.

Until Friday, Gordon was an independent producer allied with 20th Century Fox. He served as president and chief operating officer of that studio from 1984 until 1986.

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