Duds In The Water  As risky movies go, few were more fraught
this summer season than the disaster remake Poseidon. It
featured no big stars, cost an estimated $160 million to
produce, and had to battle the public's nostalgia for the cheesy
but successful original. Few industry watchers were particularly
surprised when the movie sank like, yes, an overloaded cruise
ship.  Good thing Poseidon's maker, Warner Bros. Inc. (TWX  )
got someone else to pay half the up-front costs -- and absorb
half the potential losses. An equity fund created by Stark
Investments, a $7.5 billion hedge fund based in Milwaukee, has
invested about half a billion dollars in six Warner films,
including Poseidon and V for Vendetta, another dud. Based on a
BusinessWeek analysis, Stark has so far lost $25 million on its
Poseidon misadventure, and a little less on V. There is already
blood in the water: The hedgie, which declined to comment for
this story, has parted ways with the former investment banker
who was advising it.  The studios hav