James Packer promotes Macau casino with Scorsese, DiCaprio short film

James Packer thanks Hollywood’s finest for their film promoting his Macau casino as he steps out with Mariah Carey | WATCH

Australian billionaire James Packer was all smiles as he walked the red carpet tonight, hand in hand with his singing sensation girlfriend Mariah Carey at the official opening of his new $US3.2 billion casino resort in Macau.

James Packer and Mariah Carey walk the red carpet. Picture: Jonathan Ng

His casino empire has now hit seven and he turned to his Hollywood A-list friends to mark the occasion.

The new casino resort, Studio City, is Hollywood-themed and Hollywood glamour was certainly in Macau tonight as black limousines, carrying Hollywood’s elite, lined the casino strip.

Screaming fans and around 500 of the world’s media greeted Leonardo Dicaprio, Robert Di Niro and director Martin Scorsese as they walked the red carpet. The famous actors and director were on hand to help launch the premier of their $US70 million “short film” The Audition, which was produced as an elaborate marketing campaign for the new casino.

The film, directed by Scorsese, centres on De Niro and Dicaprio competing for a role in a Scorsese film based around the casino, which also includes Brad Pitt.

It is billed as the most expensive “ad” in the world but Mr Packer said the rise of social media had changed what an audience was looking for, which he said was now short content.

“Media is changing, YouTube is an example of short content, this really is the best 15 minutes of short content in the world,” he said.

Mr Packer said the movie stars all “came for free”, adding that the person he was most grateful to for making the film happen was Hollywood royalty De Niro, who he affectionately calls Bob, saying it was his idea.

“Bob is a friend of mine and he has been so kind … Leo was fantastic, Marty was fantastic and Brad was great,” he said.

“It was not married into Leo and Bob’s contract to be here, they didn’t have to be here today but they are here to support it.

“Leo and Marty have under promised and over delivered. They have been such good friends and supporters and I couldn’t be more thankful.”

Lawrence Ho, the head of Studio City operator Melco Crown Entertainment, which Mr Packer’s Crown Resorts has a 34 per cent stake in, gave full credit to Mr Packer for The Audition, saying who else could put together the biggest Hollywood stars and best director for 15 minutes of what he calls “the best content ever filmed”.

“James deserves the credit, he brought the best of Hollywood glamour to Macau,” he said.

While Mr Packer wouldn’t comment on the rumoured $US70m cost of the short film, he said Crown Resorts and Melco Crown Entertainment had each paid half. He added that if that figure was correct and the film was used over three years, that would equate to around an annual $11m spend for the company, which he hinted was good value.

“It is the most famous marketing campaign in the world,” he said.

Tonight’s event will also see Ms Carey, who was wearing a long sleeved, long black dress, perform four songs in a performance rumoured to have cost in the “high six figures”.

- The reporter travelled to Macau as a guest of Crown Resorts