Abu Dhabi loses $100 million in movie business

The losses comes after Abu Dhabi Media shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars on film projects, part of a $1 billion film fund, reports Sharon Waxman at The Wrap. As part of a shakeup, the CEO of Abu Dhabi Media, Edward Borgerding, is gone, as well as his second-in-command, Stefan Brunner.

The worry from the start was that Abu Dhabi was wading into territory the emirate knew little about. Hollywood is always eager to hoover up cash from any source that offers it, and this ambitious spit of a nation was no exception ... There was always ego involved in this venture. The tiny, absurdly rich emirate has been seeking to invent itself as a global media and entertainment hub for the 21st century. And part of the appeal was the desire to build a native film industry.

It's not clear where the $100 million in losses came from, considering that most of the company's productions do not appear to be financial disasters (at least looking at budget and box office numbers). Perhaps there's a ton of questionable development money out there.