As reported last year, buy-curious Australian media tycoon James Packer and the guy responsible for giving us the Rush Hour films, Brett Ratner, have forged an unlikely business relationship as incongruous as Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan’s for an Oprah-rich production company called Entertainment 720 RatPac Entertainment.
Just let that sink in for a moment.
Despite the company’s name, the duo will abstain from funding low budget hardcore porn films, hip hop mixtapes or online gambling tutorials and focus instead on independent feature films and tentpole blockbusters co-financed with other entities.
One of which, it seems, will be Warner Bros. Deadline reports that the pair are currently negotiating a deal which would see their horrifically named business venture become a major investor in the studio’s rumoured finance deal with Dune Entertainment (Life Of Pi, Prometheus, X-Men First Class), the motion picture production company tipped to replace Warner’s fruitful partnership with Legendary Pictures (The Dark Knight, Watchmen, The Hangover, Inception).
“We intend to build a major independent film company which not only has the ability to fully finance its films,” Ratner said of the business last year. “But which also offers creative independence for its filmmakers.”
In a remarkable show of faith, Packer is believed to be personally investing his own money, likely obtained from upper-middle class Chinese people, if the deal goes through as expected. 
Image by Scott Barbour for Getty Images Entertainment
Via Deadline
