Harvey Weinstein, above, and his brother Bob are reportedly close to landing more than $420 million in financing to start a new movie studio.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Harvey and Bob Weinstein, the brothers who recently left Miramax, the successful movie studio they founded, have raised $230.5 million as a move towards opening a new studio, according to a published report.

The New York Times, citing a non-electronic Securities and Exchange Commission filing by the Weinstein Company Holdings, said the $230.5 million comes from 18 equity investors, and that the company has a goal of $420 million.

The newspaper also said that people briefed on the brothers' efforts say their early business plan shows their new movie studio as profitable by 2007, putting out 25 movies a year and generating annual revenue of $1.9 billion.

That box office level would give the new studio revenue roughly equal to the revenue of Miramax when the brothers ran it for Walt Disney Co (Research). The two left the Miramax name and film library with Disney when they left the company earlier this year, taking with them what the Times reported then was $130 million to start the new studio.

The newspaper, citing unnamed sources briefed on the fund-raising effort, reported Friday that the Weinsteins' new equity offering is already oversubscribed, and that the amount raised would exceed the goal. Investors so far, the sources said, include strategic partners like the advertising agency WPP Group (Research) and the film-processing company Technicolor, which would process and distribute Weinstein Company films.

The newspaper also reported that other investors include Mark Cuban, the owner of HDNet, a high-definition satellite TV network; luxury goods company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (Research); and TF1, a French television broadcaster. The newspaper said previously disclosed investors in the Weinsteins' new efforts include their investment banker, Goldman Sachs (Research) and Tarak Ben Ammar, a French-Tunisian financier, producer and chairman of Quinta Communications.

The Weinsteins declined to comment. A company spokeswoman, Sarah Levinson, said told the newspaper that the company is "confident that it has the operational capacity and financial resources to successfully meet its goals and carry out its business plan."

Two films by controversial documentary filmmaker Michael Moore are expected to bring the new studio its biggest profits this year and next.

"Fahrenheit 9/11.5," a sequel to last year's blockbuster, is due later this year and would examine the run-up to the 2004 presidential election, according to the Times. It said the business plan projects it to deliver $47 million in profit to the new company. "Sicko," a film due in 2006 focusing on the health-care industry and health-maintenance organizations, is projected to deliver $52 million in profits, according to the report.

Miramax was well known for films that were critically acclaimed, many winning Academy Awards. But the newspaper reports that the business plan promises investors "The Weinstein Company will be less focused on 'prestige pictures' and more focused on the types of films that have made Dimension so successful over the past 11 years."

Dimension is a unit of Miramax run by Bob Weinstein, which made very profitable films like the "Scream" and its "Scary Movie" series. The Times reports that the draft business plan makes clear that Harvey Weinstein intends to continue making "high-quality commercial films."

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