Fresh from buying into English Premier League football , Abu Dhabi has its eye on another trophy.

The emirate on Wednesday set out plans to become one of the world's largest film producers, with $1bn to invest in productions to be made in Hollywood, Bollywood and beyond.

The funding, provided by Abu Dhabi's government, will allow the Gulf state to back up to eight films a year over the next five years, Edward Borgerding, chief executive of the Abu Dhabi Media Company told the Financial Times.

ADMC has set up a company, called imagenation abu dhabi, to manage its film investments.

Confirming a report in the Financial Times, the new company on Wednesday said in a statement: "Our target output of eight films every year will make imagenation abu dhabi one of the world's top producers of feature films and establish Abu Dhabi as a leading centre for content creation."

Some Hollywood studios are struggling to replace the funds that rushed in from private equity and hedge funds in recent years. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer last month hired Goldman Sachs to "explore enhancements"to its long-term capital structure, amid reports Merrill Lynch was wavering in its commitment to finance MGM's Universal Artists studio.

Continued at Ft.com