Japanese Group Will Fund Up to 25 Mount Films : Entertainment: The pact, worth up to $600 million, may be the third-largest such investment in Hollywood. It comes at a time when financing for independent production is scarce.

Japan’s fixation on Hollywood was underscored again Monday as a Tokyo-based consortium entered into a multimillion-dollar partnership with film producer Thom Mount.

Media International Corp., which includes the Japanese media giant NHK Enterprises, will finance five Mount movies a year for up to five years. Universal Pictures, where Mount once served as the president of production, will distribute the films domestically.

The deal between Media International and the newly named Mount Film Group would be worth an estimated $600 million in production, print and advertising funds if it runs its full course. It would be the third-largest Japanese investment in Hollywood since Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.’s $6.6-billion purchase of MCA Inc. and Sony Corp.’s $3.4-billion acquisition of Columbia Pictures Entertainment.

The agreement, however, allows the Japanese to sever the relationship at periodic intervals. “It’s reasonable to say that the first five or six films are completely secure,” one executive close to the deal said.

Mount, who produced “Bull Durham,” has been in discussions with Japanese investors for two years. The Media International deal gives the 41-year-old film executive the enviable power to make movies at a time when independent production financing is scarce.

“This gives us a lot of freedom,” Mount said. “But I don’t feel any of the elation of a kid let loose in a candy store. I feel tremendous responsibility to do well by my partners.”

Media International Corp., created last year, is composed of several Japanese corporations seeking an ownership stake in projects ranging from television and film to sports programming. Under the Mount deal, an evolving group of investors will finance specific slates of films.

In a prepared statement, Media International President Takao Yoshiki predicted that the Mount deal will become “a model for Japanese investment in Hollywood in the future.”

The Mount partnership was brokered by Talbott, Bannon & Co., a Beverly Hills merchant banking firm. Its two principles, Stephen Bannon and John Talbott, are longtime friends of Mount’s and will serve as co-presidents and chief operating officers of Mount Film Group. Mount will be chairman and chief executive of the Burbank company.

The deal gives Mount substantial creative control over the films he makes, though his budgets cannot exceed $30 million, not counting print and advertising costs, and will average $15 million to $20 million. Universal will consult on most decisions, since the company is responsible for distributing the films.

International distribution of the pictures remains unresolved. The partnership’s first project is “The Indian Runner,” directed by Sean Penn and scheduled for release in September. Other projects are “The Big Plunge,” starring Martin Short, and “Magic Journey,” an animated fantasy adventure.

Entertainment industry analysts were surprised by the size of Media International’s commitment. Some said they would be even more surprised if the partnership survived more than a year, given the high cost of production and the relatively low percentage of successful films.

Mount is the latest in a line of producers bankrolled by the Japanese. Walt Disney Co. entered into a $600-million financing agreement with a predominantly Japanese group called Touchwood Pacific Partners last year. Japanese investors also have large stakes in Largo Entertainment, Morgan Creek Productions, Carolco Pictures and Interscope Communications Co.

Jeffrey Logsdon of Seidler Amdec Securities in Los Angeles, said the Mount deal demonstrates that the Japanese appetite for Hollywood remains ravenous. “There’s an understanding (in Japan) that the only way the barriers to Hollywood are lifted is for lucrative cash players,” Logsdon said. “And we just keep seeing people signing up.”