John Malone and Michael Moore: It would seem to be a pairing possible only in the movies—and that’s exactly where it’s happening.

A company owned by famously libertarian media magnate Malone is behind crusading liberal documentarian Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story. The fall movie promises to be an excoriating take on the financial crisis and the system of corporate finance that Malone has played deftly throughout his career.

Such relationships aren’t unusual in Hollywood, where populist rabble-rousers, dreamers, and captains of finance long have been united in pursuit of art and profit.

“That’s more the norm than not,” said Michael Taylor, a movie producer and chairman of film and television production at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Moore’s films have been indictments of broad aspects of American culture: the auto industry in Roger and Me, U.S. gun culture in Bowling for Columbine, the Bush presidency in Farenheit 9/11 and the health care system in Sicko. The latter three are among the six highest-grossing documentary features in history.

His ability to draw large audiences is why a large media company founded by someone like Malone—who battled regulation to make TCI into a cable-TV empire and whose Liberty Media recently started a $50,000 annual prize for journalism covering economic freedom—embraces entertainment without regard to its political viewpoint.

“One of the features, I suppose, of being a titan of industry on that scale is to not micromanage these things and get in the way,” Taylor said.

Liberty Media Corp. formed its Hollywood studio, Overture Films, precisely to market and distribute such independent, midbudget movies as Capitalism: A Love Story.

Douglas County, Colorado-based Liberty Media launched Overture Films with $325 million two years ago to create a nimble, independent film distributor, promising moviemakers access to both theatrical and home-video release. Overture gives Liberty Media exclusive movies for its Starz and Encore cable-movie subsidiaries and its DVD-distribution business, Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Chris McGurk, a Hollywood-studio veteran and former vice chairman at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, runs Overture as its CEO and oversees Anchor Bay. Danny Rosett, former president of MGM’s United Artists, is Overture’s COO.

In their previous jobs, McGurk and Rosett handled Moore’s 2002 hit documentary, Bowling for Columbine.

“They have an enormous amount of respect for the filmmaker, and, more importantly, they love the movies,” Moore told Variety, the movie trade publication.

Moore’s movie is among five Overture Films releases scheduled to debut this year. Overture’s coming attractions include Pandorum, a Dennis Quaid sci-fi thriller; Law Abiding Citizen, with Jamie Foxx; and The Men Who Stare at Goats, a comedy with George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, and Jeff Bridges.

Its Sunshine Cleaning has held the top spot for independent movie releases in 2009, but that comes in a weak year for theatrical debuts and DVD sales. Overture has generated less revenue than expected as a result.

“It hasn’t necessarily delivered as much as we would like,” said Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media. “On the other hand, it has had some successes, and I think if we look at the lineup ahead, there is reason to be optimistic.”