Millennium Entertainment Snags New Line of Credit

11:53 AM PST 2/14/2012 by Alex Ben Block

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Avi Lerner

The privately held company's most recent release "Rampart" is off to a good start in limited release.

Millennium Entertainment, which acquires and distributes movies for the domestic market in theaters, VOD and on other platforms, has closed a deal for a revolving line of credit with Pacific Mercantile Bank, according to CEO Bill Lee.

Millennium, a privately held company owned by Avi Lerner and a group of investors, declined to say how large the line of credit was. They said it will be used for acquisitions and to market their movies.

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The company’s most recently release was Rampart, a drama about police corruption in Los Angeles, which stars Woody Harrelson, Robin Wright and Sigourney Weaver.

Rampart had a one-week qualifying run in November for Academy consideration, but did not snag any nominations despite an Oscar campaign. It did get a spirit award nomination. Opening Feb. 10 on four screens, Rampart grossed $65,109 or an average of $13,021 per screen.

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In 2012 they will release the thriller Intruders, directed buy Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later), starring Clive Owen and Carice Van Houten; Richard Linklater’s Bernie, co-written by Skip Hollandsworth and Linklater, starring Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey; the romantic drama A Little Bit of Heaven starring Kate Hudson and Little Birds, starring Juno Temple and Kay Panabaker.

The deal for the credit line was negotiated on behalf of Millennium Entertainment by Piero G. Broccardo, SVP Finance and for Pacific Mercantile Bank by Art Stribley, EVP Entertainment Industries Division and Sandy McKerroll, VP Entertainment Industries Division.

Millennium Entertainment is one of several companies that are loosely related through inter-locking ownership. Lerner runs Millennium Nu Image, which produces movies, with Mark Gill. There is also a foreign sales company and other divisions.