Nu Metro Entertainment In the mid-1980s,
The Cannon Group, Inc. began expanding its operation into Africa, taking advantage of cheap locations and labor in countries such as
Zimbabwe and
South Africa.
Avi Lerner opened Nu Metro Entertainment, a film production company based in
Johannesburg to accommodate production demands in the countries. 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.
Nu Image After pressure from anti-apartheid forces, Cannon closed its African operations in 1988, Lerner created a new company, Nu Image, to produce original, low budget films alongside his brother Danny Lerner and other
Cannon employees Trevor Short, Danny Dimbort and
Boaz Davidson. and
Joe Lara. However, their efforts to break into the mainstream with
mockbusters such as
Freefall starring
Eric Roberts,
Jeff Fahey and
Pamela Gidley, created to capitalise on the success of
Sylvester Stallone's
Cliffhanger failed to make much of an impact.
Freefall ended up going
direct-to-video. After the successes of
creature features such as
Anaconda and
Deep Blue Sea released in the late 1990s, Nu Image produced a spate of low budget franchises to capitalise on the trend including;
Tobe Hooper's
Crocodile,
Shark Attack,
Spiders,
Killer Rats,
Octopus and
Raging Sharks 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 In early 1996, Nu Image formed a subsidiary label, Millennium Films, for higher-budget productions. From the mid-2000s, the main Nu Image company gradually began producing fewer films, with Millennium Films releasing more with a greater level of financing than previously. In 2005, it purchased
Nu Boyana Film Studios in Bulgaria. In March 2007, Nu Image acquired a controlling 52% stake in independent film and home video company
First Look Studios. As a result, Nu Image and Millennium Films were given an additional outlet for home video and theatrical distribution. One of the first films to be produced by Millennium Films was the remake
The Wicker Man starring
Nicolas Cage. The film was a critical and commercial failure. They continued on with a focus on
sequels and
remakes of notable properties such as
Day of the Dead and
Rambo. After the commercial success of
Rambo, Millennium Films entered into a multi-year deal with
Lionsgate to produce several big-budgeted films, the first of which was
Conan the Barbarian. The deal would be extended over the years with successful box-office hits (
The Mechanic) and
box office bombs (
The Legend of Hercules). Another notable success was
Olympus Has Fallen starring
Gerard Butler. In November 2010, First Look filed for bankruptcy. Nu Image formed Millennium Entertainment, LLC to assume the assets of First Look. 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 in January 2015, finally cutting ties to its former sister company Millennium Films, which remained under the control of
Avi Lerner. Alchemy filed for
Chapter 7 Bankruptcy 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 the Millennium Films subsidiary. 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 same year, Millennium Films was merged into Nu Image to form Millennium Media. In 2017, Millennium faced sexual harassment allegations alleging hostile workplace and rampant sexual harassment and gender disparity. In 2018, actor Terry Crews testified in front of Congress that he had been threatened by Avi Lerner of Millennium Media not to testify in his sexual assault case. ==Films ==