Mark Damon's MDP Worldwide recorded a second quarter revenue increase of nearly 50% on the back of feature film The Musketeer and producing and financing fees from Christian Duguay's The Extremist. It was a company-record sixth consecutive profitable quarter. Six month income was up 90% from the same period last year.

MDP saw a 48% increase in net income of $1.6m for the second quarter ended March 31, 2002, up from the $1.08m for same period in the preceding year. Over six months, net income was $2.1m a substantial increase from $1,111,000 for the six months in 2001.

At the AFM, the company boosted its profile with an equity investment from pop star Michael Jackson's Neverland Entertainment. At Cannes, Jackson announced that he would star as a werewolf in the first movie to be made under the Neverland banner, the $30m thriller Wolfed.

Also at Cannes, MDP/Neverland closed a first-look production and development deal with Benny Medina's and Jeff Pollack's Handprint Entertainment, a production and management company whose clients include Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Lopez. The two companies also sealed a joint venture production partnership. The first project on the slate will be first The Sixteen Pleasures, with Kidman slated to star.