Pacific Rim Productions eyes new focus on Asia films.

It makes low-budget flicks for mainstream U.S. market

Many of the movies made in Asia fit into the kung-fu/slasher/sex mold. Pacific Rim Productions, a two-year-old production company with offices at Warner Hollywood Studios and in Bangkok, is trying to break the stereotype.

Producer and Pacific Rim Chairman Jake Needham said he wants to prove to Hollywood that low-budget, $3 million films can be made profitably in Asia and play to mainstream American audiences.

There has been limited interest by the major studios in Asian topics. Currently, "The Joy Luck Club" and "M Butterfly," based on a hit book and a play, are on screens. Both were filmed partially in the Orient.

Pacific Rim has a different concept -- developing its own scripts, shooting entirely in Bangkok or little-used Asian countries and spending only $3 million on each film. "Natural Causes," a film starring Ali McGraw, is Pacific Rim's first production. It is being screened here this week for the major studios which are considering whether to distribute it theatrically in the U.S.

Needham said he has sold all (theatrical video, TV) international rights for "Natural Causes" to PFG Entertainment Inc., based in Santa Monica. Ted Rosenblatt, PFG's president, will screen the film in Milan at the end of this month for international buyers.

Rosenblatt said he bought "Natural Causes" because the international theatrical and video markets have matured to the point that video buyers are much more sophisticated and selective. Exploitation films glutted the market but viewers are now opting for films with higher production values and recognizable American stars, he said.

Needham said his international deal will recoup the film's production costs and a U.S. sale will provide the profit. Funding coming mainly from Thailand, Hong Kong, Australia and the U.S. is available for at least two productions a year. The company has equity of $5 million, Needham said.

He was an Emmy award winning writer/producer for NBC News. Needham has lived in the Far East since 1975 and commutes between here and Bangkok. He said Hollywood is "rowing yesterday's boat" by being "Euro-centric" despite the entertainment industry's base on the West Coast and large Asian conglomerates' ownership of studios.

Sony Pictures Entertainment controls Columbia and Tri/Star Pictures, while Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. owns Universal Pictures.

Pacific Rim is the only film company making English-language films shot entirely in Asia.

"We can make a profit on our films but we have to manage at the cost end," Needham said. "By shooting in Asia, it's not a bargain bazaar. Some things are more expensive and we have to be careful. We are not in business to promote Thai tourism."

Needham said the company will not seek to distribute its films nor will it be tempted to make higher-priced pictures. "If you make films that cost $6 million to $9 million, then you must have theatrical releases to be profitable. We are in the bicycle business, we don't want to get into mopeds," he said.

In the past American film companies that have gone to Asia have been nailed by escalating production costs. Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now," filmed in the Philippines in 1978, was a classic Hollywood production nightmare.

Needham said hidden costs such as the fees Asian governments charge for importing equipment are exceedingly high. Pacific Rim has established its own production unit in Bangkok and only had to import 11 Americans for the "Natural Causes" 33-day shoot.

Bangkok and other Asian locales in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia are fresh and not seen before by many American audiences, Needham said. Australian film companies have used some of these locations in films such as "The Year of Living Dangerously" and "Dead Calm."

Pacific Rim's second film is called "Welcome to the Bank of China" and is about a bank heist pulled by an over-the-hill crook. Production is to start later this year.