STAR-BULLETIN / 2001 Chris Lee welcomed the press to his Hawaii office during the making of the film "Final Fantasy."

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Lee to raise money
for UH film school

CORRECTION Saturday, July 2, 2005 » Chris Lee has not resigned as chairman of the University of Hawaii's Academy for Creative Media, but remains on leave while executive-producing "Superman Returns." Lee began working at the university in August 2001 in hopes of creating a film school which began in fall of 2003. A story on Page D5 Thursday reported he had resigned from his post. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at corrections@starbulletin.com.

The recent mega-entertainment dream deal that lured Chris Lee to resign his chairmanship from the University of Hawaii film school he created has been in the works since a few months after he took the UH post.

Lee said during an interview from Australia that he and four other "equity members" of Legendary Pictures started working on the deal in January 2004. The UH Academy for Creative Media opened in fall 2003.

"It all became real when we got the money," Lee said. "It takes a long time to raise ($500 million). It's an expensive game making movies."

The tentative agreement with Warner Bros. Pictures is to co-produce 25 movies with the fledgling Legendary Pictures, whose investors include AIG Direct Investments, Bank of America Capital Investors and Falcon Investment Advisors. The group will put up $500 million for films produced over several years. Legendary also will develop its own movies as part of the venture, said Lee, whose resignation from UH is effective immediately.

"On a dollar-per-dollar basis, (the Legendary Pictures-Warner Bros.' deal) is probably the biggest since DreamWorks was created (in 1994)," Lee said. "And for me, what an opportunity to be the creative voice and to run all the development and production."

Legendary's chief executive is Thomas Tull, a man Lee describes as "incredibly talented at making money." Lee, Legendary's president and a former film executive who worked on "Jerry Maguire" and "Philadelphia," will be the liaison with Warner Bros.

Lee, who had been working under an annually renewable contract with UH, took a leave in January to executive-produce "Superman Returns" in Australia. During his leave, Tom Brislin has been the Academy for Creative Media's interim chairman.

LEE, AN Iolani school graduate, said he's received several offers to return to Hollywood since moving back to Hawaii years ago. Then the "Superman Returns" offer came.

"You really can't say no to (director) Bryan Singer," Lee said. "It's a great opportunity working on such a major film and, as it turned out, a good opportunity to extend the ACM brand."

Lee had the production use four UH film school students to work as interns for several weeks. Future Legendary film projects are expected to also use Hawaii film school student interns, Lee said.

Lee won't discuss what kinds of film Legendary will produce, but said announcements will be made in the coming weeks. He agreed with Tull's recent published comments that the management team, each with vast experience in the entertainment industry, wants to build a library of films and finance commercial movies, including fantasy, science-fiction and action-adventure projects.

Fantasy and science-fiction stories are close to Lee's creative soul. He served as executive producer on the groundbreaking though financially disastrous "Final Fantasy" film.

Lee said he is "very disappointed" by state legislators' recent rejection of increased tax incentives for productions.

"It's really troubling regarding post-production, video games and animation because that's so much the present and future of the entertainment business," he said. "Look at Singapore and Ireland. Their local economies have been transformed into IP economies based on progressive tax strategies.

"Look at the infrastructure of a Pixar (Animation Studios) or Electronic Arts or Industrial Light and Magic. Those are the companies that build communities and the kind of companies that can be ongoing entities in Hawaii."

Competition to land a film production will continue, and tax incentives are playing a bigger part than ever, Lee said.

"I've been in Australia since January, and not only are we enjoying the advantages of the exchange rate, but we get 12.5 percent tax back from the government," Lee said. "We're having our crew jackets made in Australia because we'll get 12.5 percent back on that."

Lee said his purpose for helping create the film school was to try "in a small way to change even a percentage of the Hawaii economy and make it possible for the kids to stay home" rather than having to move to Los Angeles.

Lee will continue to support the film school.

"My job now is to conceptualize and raise money for the academy," Lee said. "I can raise much more money in Hollywood than I can in Hawaii."

He said the film school is in "great shape" with a fall schedule featuring a record 22 courses and requiring 10 new faculty members.

"I don't know yet what the university wants me to do, but I actually wrote it into my contract that I get to spend so much time a month on the school," he said. "I can't do the day-to-day behind-a-desk stuff in Manoa because that's not the best use of me."