The most famous surviving words from the ancient Greek Battle of Thermopylae have been “molon labe,†the defiant taunt by 300 Spartans to their numerically superior Persian adversaries. Translated, it means roughly “Come and take them,†referring to their weapons. This past weekend, it could also have referred to seats at movie theaters, as viewers swarmed cinemas to help Warner Brothers’ “300″ shatter box-office records.
Among those pleased by the lucrative recounting of the Spartans’ slaughter? Hedge funds. Two of the five production companies listed for the swords-and-sandals epic are Virtual Studios and Legendary Pictures, both vehicles backed by those private investor pools.
