CEO Bill Lee and Investor Group Acquiring Millennium Entertainment

19 Aug, 2014 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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Ditributor to change name going forward

Millennium Entertainment CEO Bill Lee and an investor group Aug. 19 announced they are buying the distributor’s catalog assets and film delivery platform. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Lee and Virgo Investment Group are acquiring the assets from Millennium majority owner Nu Image Inc., among others. As part of the transaction, Millennium Entertainment will undergo a name change and going forward the Millennium brand will be held solely by Nu Image subsidiary Millennium Films. Millennium Films is not a part of the transaction.

Lee will remain CEO of the new company, with existing management staying in the Los Angeles headquarters. Steve Nickerson, president of Millennium Home Entertainment, left the company earlier this year.

“This transaction creates new opportunities to further establish the company as a leading, independent distribution platform for high-quality content, with a customer-centric and content curation focus,” Lee said in a statement. “I am pleased to invest my own capital alongside Virgo and am confident that Virgo’s values, ideas and resources will enable us to fully realize our business aspirations of building broader relationships with producers, talent and customers.”

Millennium Entertainment has distributed more than 300 feature films since its inception in November 2010 across the theatrical, digital, DVD, VOD and SVOD channels.

Currently it is prepping the day-and-date release of Matthew Weiner’s (“Mad Men”) upcoming dramedy Are You Here, starring Owen Wilson, Zach Galifianakis and Amy Poehler. Additionally, it is handling the ancillary release of the documentary James Cameron’s Deepsea Challenge 3D. The film opened in theaters Aug. 8.

“We believe the confluence of recent changes within the competitive landscape, expanding demand for new content, and the ongoing evolution of physical and digital consumption create an attractive market seam for innovative film distribution solutions,” Mark Perez, partner at Virgo Investment Group, said in a statement.

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