Germany's aggressively acquisitive IN-motion has launched a private media fund, World Media Fonds V (WMF V), through which it plans to raise at least $45m (DM100m) for three projects including $46m Pierce Brosnan-starrer The Day After Tomorrow.

WMF V is also backing $32m martial arts TV movie Invincible, which is being executive produced by Mel Gibson and Jet Li and distributed internationally by Alliance Atlantis; and $52m children's film Tricky, which combines live-action with 3D animated characters. The Day After Tomorrow is being produced by The Ladd Company and has MGM/UA in place as North American distributor.

IN-motion said it could increase the fund's volume to $90m (DM200m) if take-up by investors is strong and additional projects offer themselves for co-production by the fund.

IN-motion's previous funds, WMF I- IV, have backed features such as William Jennings' Harlem Aria and Jay Lowi's thriller Tangled, starring Rachel Leigh Cook and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, as well as TV projects such as two-parter Me And My Shadows, based on the biography by Judy Garland's daughter Lorna Luft, and action series 18 Wheels Of Justice, which is handled internationally by CanWest Global Communications.

IN-motion also reported an operating result for the year to September 30, 2000 up by 1,101% to $15.3m (DM33.75m), and profit up by 1,127% to $7.1m (DM15.58m), compared to $0.58m (DM1.27m) the previous year. Chief financial officer Klaus Maz confirmed that sales for the current financial year are forecast to top $136m (DM300m) and stressed that this result will be influenced by pending acquisitions.

IN-motion catapulted itself into the international arena earlier this year with its acquisitions of financing and sales outfits Myriad Pictures and J&M Entertainment. Last week, German publication Boerse Online suggested that IN-motion was in talks to buy the US' Artisan Entertainment, but according to an Artisan spokesperson, the two companies are discussing a co-production agreement, not an acquisition.