ENTERTAINMENT ONE PARTNERS WITH AVI LERNER'S NU IMAGE TO DEVELOP AND PRODUCE TV SERIES BASED ON THE LEGENDARY ACTION MOVIE, "RAMBO"
Producers in Negotiation with Sylvester Stallone to be
Attached to the Project
TORONTO/LOS ANGELES - August 21, 2013 - Leading independent studio Entertainment One (eOne) is pleased to announce that it has firmed up a co-development pact with Avi Lerner (Rambo, The Expendables) and Nu Image to develop and produce a television series based on the legendary action movie, RAMBO.
Under their exclusive option arrangement, the partners will collectively develop the series and shop it to broadcasters in the US and internationally. The parties are currently in negotiations with Sylvester Stallone to be involved with the project on a creative level as well as potentially reprise his iconic role as the original Rambo.
RAMBO is a cult classic series of movies and an epic feature film character starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo. Based on the David Morell novel First Blood, the film is about a troubled Vietnam War veteran and former Green Beret who is skilled in many aspects of survival, weaponry, hand to hand combat and guerrilla warfare. The series consists of the films First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III and Rambo.
"We're thrilled to join forces with a renowned producer like Avi and the Nu Image team. The ability to fuse the big screen and the small screen through Avi's feature film expertise and eOne's domestic production capabilities and international distribution infrastructure, makes for a highly complementary partnership," said John Morayniss, CEO, eOne Television. "Rambo fans cover all demographics and we're confident that we'll quickly find this series a home."
"I'm happy to be partnering with a prolific company like Entertainment One who has a track record of creating high quality programming for their broadcast partners around the world," commented Lerner. "And I'm excited by the prospect of collaborating again with my good friend Sly for an encore in this next phase of the Rambo legacy."
The television series will be produced by eOne in association with Lerner and Nu Image. Executive producers will include John Morayniss (Klondike, Rogue) for eOne and Lerner for Nu Image, with eOne handling the worldwide rights to the series in all media.
eOne develops, produces, acquires, distributes programming across all genres including Hell on Wheels on AMC; Rookie Blue on ABC and Shaw Media; Discovery Channel's first-ever scripted mini-series Klondike, co-produced by Discovery, eOne, and Nomadic Pictures in association with Scott Free Television; Haven on Syfy, Shaw Media and Universal Networks International; Rogue, DIRECTV's first original scripted series starring Thandie Newton; Call Me Fitz on DIRECTV and HBO Canada; Saving Hope on CTV; and Bitten on Space. The group also handles distribution of AMC's The Walking Dead.
Through strong relationships with broadcasters and content providers, eOne Television International has successfully sold eOne's original and third-party productions to over 500 broadcasters in 150 countries, including key US networks and international pay TV channels.
About Entertainment One
The company's comprehensive network extends around the globe including Canada, the US, the UK, Ireland, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Benelux, France, Germany, Scandinavia, South Africa and South Korea. Through established Entertainment and Distribution divisions, the company provides extensive expertise in film distribution, television and music production, family programming and merchandising and licensing. Its current rights library is exploited across all media formats and includes more than 35,000 film and television titles, 2,800 hours of television programming and 45,000 music tracks.
http://www.entertainmentonegroup.com/
About Nu Image
Nu Image, Inc. is one of the longest-running independent studios in the history of Hollywood. The company is responsible for more than 350 feature films since it opened in 1992. Co-founders Avi Lerner and Trevor Short run Nu Image, Inc. The company and its subsidiaries develop, produce, finance and distribute five to eight star driven movies annually, with budgets generally ranging from $20 million to $80 million.
Lerner and Short are supported by a team of senior executives that include: Nu Image/Millennium Entertainment President of Television, David Sobieraj; Nu Image President of International Sales, John Fremes; Millennium Films' President, Mark Gill; Head of Development and Creative Affairs, Boaz Davidson; John Thompson, head of production; and Lonnie Ramati, head of business affairs.
Perhaps best known for its worldwide box-office successes "The Expendables" and "The Expendables 2" with a combined gross of $600 million combined, the studio has begun production on the next installment "The Expendables 3." Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Terry Crews and Arnold Schwarzenegger return to their roles in the first two films with Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas, Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford joining the all-star cast along with Kellan Lutz, MMA star Ronda Rousey, welterweight boxing champion Victor Ortiz and Glen Powell.
Based in Los Angeles, Nu Image, Inc. also owns and operates full-service production facilities, Millennium Studios in Shreveport, Louisiana and Nu Boyana Film Studios in Sofia, Bulgaria.
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