Millennium Media, formerly Nu Image, is an American

film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production ...

that was founded by

Avi Lerner Avinoam Lerner ( he, אבי לרנר; born 13 October 1947) is an Israeli-American film producer, primarily of American action movies. Lerner is the founder and CEO of Millennium Films. Life and career Avi Lerner was born in Haifa, Israel), on ...

, Trevor Short, Danny Dimbort, and Danny Lerner in 1992 and is one of Hollywood's longest running independent film companies. Millennium creates, produces, finances, and sells films worldwide. The company produces

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

s, most of which are filmed primarily in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

(by 2005, it acquired

Nu Boyana Film Studios Nu Boyana Film Studios ( bg, Ню Бояна Филм) are film studios situated in Sofia, Bulgaria. The film production complex was opened in 1962 and was state owned until 2005 when it was bought by one of the longest-running independent film c ...

), among other locations.

History

Nu Metro Entertainment

In the mid-1980's, The Cannon Group, Inc. began expanding its operation into Africa, taking advantage of cheap locations and labor in countries such as

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

and

opened Nu Metro Entertainment, a film production company based in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

to accommodate production demands in the country. During this time, Lerner executive produced many films, such as '' American Ninja 2: The Confrontation'' and '' River of Death'' for Cannon as well as '' Howling IV: The Original Nightmare'' for

Harry Alan Towers Harry Alan Towers (19 October 1920 – 31 July 2009) was a British radio and independent film producer and screenwriter. He wrote numerous screenplays for the films he produced, often under the pseudonym Peter Welbeck. He produced over 80 ...

. After pressure from anti-apartheid forces the company closed its African operation in 1988, Lerner created a new company, Nu Image, to produce original, low budget films alongside his brother Danny Lerner and other

Cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

employees Trevor Short, Danny Dimbort and

Boaz Davidson Boaz Davidson ( he, בועז דוידזון, ; born 8 November 1943) is an Israeli film director, film producer, producer and screenwriter. He was born in Tel Aviv, Israel and studied film in London at London Film School. Biography Davidson was ...

Nu Image

From 1992, Nu Image began multiple films a year, mainly in the action genre. Many of the films produced went

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

, however some, such as ''

Shark Attack A shark attack is an attack on a human by a shark. Every year, around 80 unprovoked attacks are reported worldwide. Despite their rarity, many people fear shark attacks after occasional serial attacks, such as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1 ...

'' debuted on

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

. Many stars, writers and directors from The Cannon Group, Inc. appeared in films for Nu Image, including David Bradley,

Michael Dudikoff Michael Joseph Stephen Dudikoff Jr. (born October 8, 1954) is an American actor and martial artist. Born in New York City, his family later moved to Los Angeles. Dudikoff did different jobs to pay for his education, during this time he became a mo ...

Sam Firstenberg Sam Firstenberg (born Shmulik Firstenberg on March 13, 1950) is an Israeli-American film director. He is best known for having made low-budget B-movies most of his career, among them the first two films in the American Ninja series, ''American Ni ...

and

Billy Drago William Eugene Burrows (November 30, 1945 – June 24, 2019), known professionally by his stage name Billy Drago, was an American television and film actor. Drago's films, in which he was frequently cast as a villain, included Clint Eastwood's ...

. They also built a new generation of action talent such as Bryan Genesse and

Joe Lara William Joseph Lara (October 2, 1962 – May 29, 2021) was an American actor, martial artist, and musician, known for the role of Tarzan in the American TV series '' Tarzan: The Epic Adventures''. Career Lara played Tarzan in the 1989 TV movie ' ...

. However, their efforts to break into the mainstream with

mockbuster A mockbuster (also known as knockbuster or a drafting opportunity) is a film created to exploit the publicity of another major motion picture with a similar title or subject. Mockbusters are often made with a low budget and quick production to max ...

s such as ''

Freefall In Newtonian physics, free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. In the context of general relativity, where gravitation is reduced to a space-time curvature, a body in free fall has no force acting on i ...

'' starring

Eric Roberts Eric Anthony Roberts (born April 18, 1956) is an American actor. His career began with a leading role in ''King of the Gypsies'' (1978) for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He was nominated again at the Golden Globes fo ...

Jeff Fahey Jeffrey David Fahey (, born November 29, 1952) is an American film and television actor. He has portrayed Captain Frank Lapidus on the ABC series ''Lost'' and the title role of Deputy Marshal Winston MacBride on ''The Marshal''. Early life an ...

and

Pamela Gidley Pamela Catherine Gidley (June 11, 1965 – April 16, 2018) was an American actress and model. She began her career as an actress in 1986, debuting in the film ''Thrashin, before appearing in a number of films, including '' Dudes'' (1987), '' C ...

, created to capitalise on the success of

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...

's ''

Cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...

'' failed to make much of an impact. ''

'' ended up going

. After the successes of

creature features ''Creature Features'' is a generic title for a genre of horror TV format shows broadcast on local American television stations throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The movies broadcast on these shows were generally classic and cult horror ...

such as ''

Anaconda Anacondas or water boas are a group of large snakes of the genus '' Eunectes''. They are found in tropical South America. Four species are currently recognized. Description Although the name applies to a group of snakes, it is often used ...

'' and '' Deep Blue Sea'' released in the late 90's, Nu Image produced a spate of low budget franchises to capitalise on the trend including; Tobe Hooper's ''

Crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

'', ''

Spiders Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species dive ...

'', '' Killer Rats'', ''

Octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

'' and ''

Raging Sharks ''Raging Sharks'' is a 2005 American direct-to-video science fiction action horror film directed by Danny Lerner. It stars Corin Nemec, Vanessa Angel, Corbin Bernsen, Todd Jensen, Elise Muller, Blinky van Bilderbeek, Simone Levin, Emil Markov, J ...

'' and various sequels were produced from 1999 to 2005. While not critically successful, the films were extremely successful on television and home media.

Millennium Films & Millennium Entertainment

From the mid-2000's, Nu Image gradually began producing fewer films, with its subsidiary label, Millennium Films, releasing more with a greater level of financing than previously, and its sister company Millennium Entertainment producing the films. In 2005, it purchased

in Bulgaria. One of the first films to carry the new name was the

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...

The Wicker Man ''The Wicker Man'' is a 1973 British folk horror film directed by Robin Hardy and starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt, and Christopher Lee. The screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, inspired by David Pinner's 1967 ...

'' starring

Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gu ...

. The film was a critical and commercial failure. They continued on with a focus on

sequels A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

and

remakes A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the sam ...

of notable properties such as ''

Day of the Dead The Day of the Dead ( es, Día de Muertos or ''Día de los Muertos'') is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely obser ...

'' and ''

Rambo Rambo is a surname with Norwegian (Vestfold) and Swedish origins. It possibly originated with '' ramn'' + '' bo'', meaning "raven's nest". It has variants in French (''Rambeau'', ''Rambaut'', and ''Rimbaud'') and German (''Rambow''). It is now best ...

''. After the commercial success of ''Rambo'', Millennium Films entered into a multi-year deal with

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

to produce several big-budgeted films, the first of which was ''

Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer'') ...

''. The deal would be extended over the years with successful box-office hits ('' The Mechanic'') and box office bombs (''

The Legend of Hercules ''The Legend of Hercules'' is a 2014 American 3D action fantasy film directed by Renny Harlin, written by Daniel Giat and Sean Hood, and starring Kellan Lutz, Gaia Weiss, Scott Adkins, Roxanne McKee, and Liam Garrigan. It was distributed by Lio ...

''). Another notable success was '' Olympus Has Fallen'' starring

Gerard Butler Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor and film producer. After studying law, he turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as '' Mrs Brown'' (1997), the James Bond film '' Tomorrow Never ...

. The film was originally intended as a

of ''

White House Down ''White House Down'' is a 2013 American political action thriller film directed by Roland Emmerich and written by James Vanderbilt. In the film, a divorced US Capitol Police officer attempts to rescue both his daughter and the President of ...

''; however the film ended up beating that film into release and was much more profitable, spawning two sequels to date. Millennium Entertainment was sold in August 2014. The company's library and distribution assets had been sold to a consortium consisting of its current management and Virgo Investment Group. The new owners renamed the company

Alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

in January 2015, finally cutting ties to its former sister company Millennium Films, which remained under the control of

. Alchemy filed for

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code) governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States, in contrast to Chapters 11 and 13, which govern the process of ''reorganization'' of a debto ...

on June 30, 2016.

Millennium Media

In 2017, a deal was reached with The Recon Group, a Chinese investment firm, for them to purchase a majority stake in Millennium Films. The deal was signed and a $20 million downpayment was secured. However, this deal was later announced to be off in August 2017 due to the Chinese government clamping down on overseas business investments. The following year, the company was rebranded as Millennium Media.

Films

References

External links

Avi Lerner’s Millennium Entertainment Up for Sale (EXCLUSIVE)
on Variety.com {{Authority control Film distributors of the United States Film production companies of the United States Mass media companies established in 1992 Companies based in Los Angeles Non-theatrical film production companies 1992 establishments in California