los angeles<u+2014>like his new boss, steven mnuchin was well known in hollywood before his turn in the political spotlight. mr. mnuchin, whom president-elect donald trump chose on tuesday as his nominee for treasury secretary , had a hand in financing hit films like <u+201c>avatar<u+201d> but was also involved in the struggling relativity media studio. his appointment to the trump administration could offer a direct connection for some of hollywood<u+2019>s top players to the white house. representatives for mr. mnuchin and mr. trump didn<u+2019>t immediately respond to requests for comment. the longtime banker came to hollywood about a decade ago, at a time when wall street financiers were in high demand. mr. mnuchin<u+2019>s ticket was through dune entertainment, a fund he started in 2005 to invest in movies at major studios. dune began co-financing movies released in 2006, at a time when <u+201c>slate-financing<u+201d> deals were becoming popular. studios turned to companies like dune to offset the cost and risk of their releases, laying off losses if a movie flopped but losing out on a share of the profits if it hit. dune struck a deal financing movies at twentieth century fox. (fox<u+2019>s parent company, 21st century fox , and news corp , publisher of the wall street journal, share common ownership.) one of dune<u+2019>s investments at fox, <u+201c>avatar,<u+201d> hit big time after it came out in 2009. the james cameron science-fiction epic remains the top-grossing movie of all time at the world-wide box office, with a gross of nearly $2.8 billion. <u+201c>avatar<u+201d> is in the record books now but was seen as a massive risk for fox given a budget and marketing expenses that exceeded $500 million. the studio turned to dune and another private-equity investor, ingenious media, to cover its risk by providing a substantial portion of the movie<u+2019>s budget. when <u+201c>avatar<u+201d> hit, dune reaped a windfall. fox didn<u+2019>t respond to a request for comment. dune<u+2019>s other projects at fox included some of the studio<u+2019>s signature franchises, including the <u+201c>x-men<u+201d> and <u+201c>planet of the apes<u+201d> series. the partnership was seen in hollywood as one of the most successful alignments of hollywood and wall street. his success has given mr. mnuchin entr<u+00e9>e to the upper level of los angeles<u+2019>s social circle, including a seat on the board of the city<u+2019>s museum of contemporary art, alongside heather podesta, the ex-wife of lobbyist tony podesta, and jeffrey soros, a nephew of george soros. in 2013, dune entertainment merged with ratpac entertainment, a production and financing venture run by <u+201c>rush hour<u+201d> director brett ratner and james packer, an australian billionaire with vast resort and casino holdings. shortly after the tie-up, the newly formed ratpac-dune entertainment llc moved across town to time warner inc. <u+2019>s warner bros. that deal has given mr. mnuchin a role in<u+2014>and in some cases, executive producer credits on<u+2014>several high-profile warner bros. releases, including <u+201c>suicide squad,<u+201d> <u+201c>batman v superman: dawn of justice<u+201d> and <u+201c>american sniper.<u+201d> flops like <u+201c>jupiter ascending<u+201d> and <u+201c>edge of tomorrow<u+201d> are in the mix, too. mr. mnuchin has producer credits on two movies currently in theaters, <u+201c>rules don<u+2019>t apply<u+201d> and <u+201c>the accountant.<u+201d> more recently, mr. mnuchin has become known in hollywood for working with ryan kavanaugh, the chief executive of relativity with a reputation for courting media attention with grandiose statements and fighting negative press reports with his twitter account. relativity is best known for producing movies like <u+201c>limitless<u+201d> and the television show <u+201c>catfish<u+201d> but has struggled in recent years as the company continued to expand despite repeated failures at the box office. mr. mnuchin invested in relativity in october 2014 and was named co-chairman while serving as chief executive of onewest, a southern california bank. the studio filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in july 2015 , though mr. mnuchin had resigned from the position by that time. relativity didn<u+2019>t respond to a request for comment. he was named national finance chairman of mr. trump<u+2019>s presidential campaign less than a year after relativity<u+2019>s bankruptcy filing. write to erich schwartzel at erich.schwartzel@wsj.com
before politics, steven mnuchin was hollywood player  - wsj
erich schwartzel