Why Well-Meaning Billionaires Like Megan Ellison May Ruin the Movie Business

Billionaires like Megan Ellison are bringing us films like "The Master" and "Zero Dark Thirty," but that may not be a good thing

I was curious when I first heard that billionaire Megan Ellison, Larry Ellison’s 26-year-old daughter, had landed in Hollywood and was making movies like "The Master" with Paul Thomas Anderson and "Killing Them Softly" with Brad Pitt. Her aversion to the media made her only more intriguing.  

But it may be that well-meaning financiers like Ellison will ruin what is left of the independent movie business.

Getty ImagesEllison is gutsy and rich, as TheWrap pointed out when it put her on our list of “10 Producers Who Will Change Hollywood 2012.”

Also read: 10 Producers Who Will Change Hollywood in 2012

Her Annapurna Productions wrote a check for more than $35 million to finance “The Master,” Anderson’s sweeping, ambitious 70MM drama, inspired by the origins of Scientology.

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