SAVE THE DATE: LIONSGATE AND NU IMAGE THROW THE BIG WEDDING

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --  LIONSGATE® (NYSE: LGF), a leading global entertainment company, and Nu Image are thrilled to announce THE BIG WEDDING, a Nu Image / Millennium Films production that Lionsgate will be distributing in the U.S. and the U.K.  The announcement was made jointly by Joe Drake, President of Lionsgate's Motion Picture Group, Jason Constantine, Lionsgate's President of Acquisitions and Co-Productions, and Avi Lerner, Founder and Co-Chairman of Nu Image, who is handling international sales of the film.  

The film, which boasts an all star cast including Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Diane Keaton, Katherine Heigl, Amanda Seyfried, Robin Williams, Ben Barnes and Topher Grace, is currently shooting in Greenwich, Connecticut.  

Written and directed by Justin Zackham (THE BUCKET LIST), the film centers around Don (De Niro) and Ellie (Keaton), a long divorced couple being forced to pretend that they are still happily married at their son's wedding.  Among all of their family and friends, the hoax snowballs into a poignant and raucously funny story about the ties that bind.

Nu Image's Avi Lerner, Danny Dimbort and Trevor Short are executive producing, with Justin Zackham, Clay Pecorin, Richard Salvatore and Harry Ufland producing.

"THE BIG WEDDING is a charming, rollicking movie that promises to be an instant intergenerational family comedy classic," explains Drake of the film's appeal to the studio.  "We are thrilled to be in business once again with Avi and Nu Image," adds Constantine.  "After our success together with action genre films like THE EXPENDABLES and the upcoming CONAN THE BARBARIAN, this film presented a wonderful opportunity to expand our collaborative horizons into the realm of broad comedy."

"Our relationship with Lionsgate has always been mutually beneficial and one of great respect.  A film like THE BIG WEDDING only reinforces that idea and takes our relationship to the next level," says Lerner.  "We know that Lionsgate's faith in us to deliver on all of the potential of this comedy is well placed."

Negotiations on behalf of Lionsgate were overseen by Constantine along with Lionsgate's SVP of Acquisitions Eda Kowan and EVP of Business & Legal Affairs Wendy Jaffe.

About Lionsgate 

Lionsgate is a leading global entertainment company with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, family entertainment, digital distribution and new channel platforms.  The Company has built a strong television presence in production of prime time cable and broadcast network series, distribution and syndication of programming through Debmar-Mercury and an array of channel assets. Lionsgate currently has 15 shows on more than 10 networks spanning its prime time production, distribution and syndication businesses, including such critically-acclaimed hits as "Mad Men", "Weeds" and "Nurse Jackie" along with the comedy "Blue Mountain State," the upcoming drama "Boss" and the syndication successes "Tyler Perry's House Of Payne", its spinoff "Meet The Browns", the upcoming "For Better or Worse," "The Wendy Williams Show" and "Are We There Yet?".

Its feature film business has generated more than half a billion dollars at the North American box office in the past year, fueled by such successes as THE LINCOLN LAWYER, TYLER PERRY'S MADEA'S BIG HAPPY FAMILY, THE EXPENDABLES, which was #1 at the North American box office for two weeks, THE LAST EXORCISM, TYLER PERRY'S WHY DID I GET MARRIED TOO?, KICK ASS and the critically-acclaimed PRECIOUS, which won two Academy Awards®. The Company's home entertainment business has grown to more than 8% market share and is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rate. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 13,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate brand remains synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.

About Nu Image/Millennium Films

Nu Image/Millennium Films currently develops, finances, produces and distributes approximately 15-18 pictures a year, shooting globally.  Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Nu Image, Inc. is the parent company of Millennium Films (production), Millennium Entertainment (U.S. theatrical and home entertainment distribution company), and has full service production studios in Shreveport, Louisiana (Millennium Studios) and Sofia, Bulgaria (Nu Boyana Studios).

For further information, contact:
Kate Hubin Piliero
310-255-4064
[email protected]

For corporate inquiries, please contact:
Peter D. Wilkes
310-255-3726
pwilkes@lionsgate

SOURCE Lionsgate