Millennium Media

 ( Film Distributors Of The United States ) 

From 1992, Nu Image began producing multiple films a year, mainly in the action genre. Many of its films went direct-to-video, however some, such as Shark Attack debuted on television. Many stars, writers and directors from The Cannon Group, Inc. appeared in films for Nu Image, including David Bradley, Michael Dudikoff, Sam Firstenberg and Billy Drago. They also built a new generation of action talent such as Bryan Genesse and Joe Lara.

However, their efforts to break into the mainstream with 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.

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 and 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 Films 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 bomb ( 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.

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.

• Avi Lerner's Millennium Entertainment Up for Sale (EXCLUSIVE) on Variety.com