Meet Philip Anschutz
by Laura Randall

LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Thirty-four years ago, Philip Anschutz, an upstart oilman with more shrewdness than cash, struck a one-time deal with Universal Pictures that landed him $100,000.

That agreement allowed Universal to film legendary oil firefighter Red Adair dousing the real-life well fires that were raging on Anschutz's just-bought Wyoming property.

While Universal happily used the footage in "Hellfighters," its John Wayne movie about Adair, the 27-year-old Anschutz plowed the money into more oil-well leases and went about building a railroad, telecommunications, real estate and sports empire that would make him one of the world's richest men.

About $16 billion later, Anschutz, 61, again has turned his business acumen -- and some say his conservative agenda -- toward Hollywood.

As the majority shareholder in United Artists Theatres Circuit and with advanced negotiations to buy Regal Cinemas Inc. and the Irvine-based Edwards Theatres Circuit, Anschutz is poised to become the most powerful force in the global exhibition industry, owning more than 6,400 screens across the United States.

He also will have his own product on some of those screens soon. His Beverly Hills-based production company, Crusader Entertainment, signed a three-year, first-look deal with Paramount Pictures last month and is readying its first film project for an April start: "A Sound of Thunder," an adaptation of a Ray Bradbury short story about big-game hunters who embark on a time-traveling safari.

Crusader likely will make positive-message films that aren't expected to inspire a Senate subcommittee to pound its gavel and rant about Hollywood's immoral ways. His production company has said it will shun "exploitative" material and aim to make movies that appeal to ages 8-80.