Imagenation Abu Dhabi has announced that the five-year revolving fund it created last year with Participant Media will partner in the productions of family comedy Furry Vengeance and horror/thriller The Crazies.

Inspired by George A. Romero’s 1974 cult classic of the same name, The Crazies is directed by Breck Eisner and stars Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell. It is scheduled for US release on Feb 26, 2010.

Set to star Brendan Fraser, Furry Vengeance will be directed by Roger Kumble from July 2009. Release is scheduled for April next year.

Overture Films will distribute The Crazies in the US and Canada, with Paramount Vantage handling international sales. Summit will distribute Furry Vengeance in the US and is also handling international sales.

Imagenation Abu Dhabi CEO Ed Borgerding said: “We are very pleased that our partnership with Participant is off to such a strong start with these two films representing completely different genres. The speed in which this fund has become a reality and the robust pipeline of projects in development bodes very well for our collaboration.”

Participant Media CEO Jim Berk said: “This partnership allows us to move aggressively in the development, production and release of quality feature films. The Crazies and Furry Vengeance are high quality, commercial films which both entertain and inspire. Both are representative of the types of productions that we look forward to partnering on in the future.”

Owned by Abu Dhabi Media Company, Imagenation Abu Dhabi launched a fund with Participant last September to provide production funding for 15-18 feature films.

The company has also teamed with National Geographic Entertainment on a $100m slate of films over the next five years and has a $250m financing deal with Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment to develop, produce and distribute up to 20 films over seven years.