Avi
Lerner

Beginning his career as the manager of the first drive-in cinema in his native Israel probably gave Avi Lerner the edge over his competitors. His taste in populist action cinema, which flourished in the ’80s VHS boom, not only endures but has even crossed over back into theatrical releases. After selling up his theatre chain to the “Go-Go Boys” (Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus) in 1980, Lerner moved into film production in South Africa, where he founded the Nu Metro Entertainment Group, which incorporated film exhibition and video.

In 1992, he moved to LA, where he founded home entertainment company Nu Image, Inc., which was followed four years later by Millennium Films, to focus on theatrical motion pictures. Working strictly in genre fare such as the self-explanatory “Man With A Gun” (1995), starring Michael Madsen, and launching the short-lived “Cyborg Cop” trilogy (1993-95), Lerner not only surfed the ’80s heyday of video rental, he even made it out the other side: a turning point is deemed to be 2008’s hit “Rambo,” the fourth part of Sylvester Stallone’s war-set action franchise, released 20 years after its Razzie-nominated predecessor.

Since then, Lerner has patented his own brand of action drama, capitalizing on nostalgia for the old-style ’80s punch-’em-ups starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal while adding contemporary global themes and stars such as Jason Statham (“The Mechanic”) and Gerard Butler (“London Has Fallen”). He continues to let the old dogs have their day, however; marshaled by Stallone, the all-star “Expendables” series shows no sign of retiring any time soon.