By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

Entertainment Leaders to Be Inducted into Variety Home Entertainment Hall of Fame on December 3rd

Posted Tuesday, August 21st, 2012 - Comments Off on Entertainment Leaders to Be Inducted into Variety Home Entertainment Hall of Fame on December 3rd
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Star Wars®, Nu Image’s Lerner, Sony’s Singer, Gaiam’s Sondheim to be honored, Walmart to receive inaugural Innovation Award

08/20/2012 — Nu Image, Inc. and Millennium Films Founder and Chairman Avi Lerner, Sony Pictures Entertainment Chief Digital Strategy Officer Mitch Singer, Gaiam, Inc. president Bill Sondheim and Star Wars The Complete Saga will be inducted into the Variety Home Entertainment Hall of Fame on Dec. 3, 2012 at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. In addition, the Hall of Fame’s first ever Innovation Award will be presented to Walmart Stores.

“These honorees demonstrate the advances being made on every front in home entertainment. They have rewritten the rules in creative, in marketing and distribution, and in technology,” said Linda Buckley-Bruno, publishing director of Variety. “Avi combines the best instincts about what audiences want with innovative business models to generate success across distribution platforms. Mitch has worked tirelessly on the development of new usage models that allow consumers to use legally acquired content flexibly, conveniently and easily. And Bill has built a career out of innovative ways to connect entertainment fans with the products that they love. We are so pleased to honor these three individuals, along with ‘Star Wars’, one of the most important entertainment franchises of all time, and Walmart Stores, the No. 1 entertainment retailer.”

Walmart will receive the 2012 Innovation Award in recognition of the company’s long-term focus and commitment to marketing home entertainment in both physical and digital formats. At a time when there is no more important challenge facing the entertainment industry than the development and marketing of new digital usage models, Walmart has assumed a leadership role in making consumers comfortable with online movies through Vudu, Disc-to-Digital and other initiatives. The nation’s largest retailer is also the leading merchant of packaged media and remains the Hollywood studios’ committed marketing partner in this area. The award will be accepted by Chris Nagelson, VP-DMM Entertainment for Walmart.

With more than 350 films to his credit, Lerner is one of the most experienced, prolific and successful independent producers in Hollywood history. Since the beginning of his film career, he has demonstrated an unparalleled sense of the importance of the home market in the ultimate success of each and every film he produces.

Lerner started his motion picture career in Israel. In 1992 he opened Nu Image, Inc., in Los Angeles, focusing on feature film distribution and satisfying the burgeoning home entertainment market’s appetite. In 1996 he launched Millennium Films, which produces theatrical motion pictures. Under the Millennium Films label, Lerner has produced such theatrical and home entertainment hits as Expendables 1 & 2, Rambo IV, Righteous Kill, Brooklyn’s Finest, and The Mechanic. The company’s forthcoming pictures include The Iceman, The Big Wedding, Gabriele Muccino’s Playing the Field and Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy, an official selection of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

Singer is a Hollywood leader in navigating the transition from physical to digital distribution. At Sony Pictures, he is responsible for coordinating digital policy across all of the studio’s businesses, and has been involved in digital rights management since the launch of the DVD. Currently, Singer plays a key role in developing new digital usage models that enable full consumer flexibility regarding how consumers use content. In addition to developing new consumer uses, Singer is responsible for coordinating Sony Pictures’ worldwide anti-piracy activities.

In June, 2008, Singer also become President of the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) LLC, an international and cross-industry group that developed UltraViolet and has established the industry standard to enable consumers to buy, play and share content across all the devices and services they use.

Sondheim has led Gaiam to flourish as the leading independent distributor of film and special interest content in the U.S. with unique access to mass and specialty retailers. Under Sondheim’s leadership, Gaiam this year acquired Vivendi Entertainment, creating Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment with a library of more than 7,000 titles and extensive retailer, direct-to-consumer and digital distribution channels.

Sondheim joined Gaiam in 2007 and was previously the company’s President of Entertainment and Worldwide Distribution until his promotion to President of the overall public company in 2010. His two-decade tenure in entertainment distribution also includes positions at Sony BMG, where he was in charge of the Global Dual Disc music format. He also served as President of Retail at GoodTimes Entertainment and President of PolyGram Video at PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.

The May 25, 1977 theatrical debut of Star Wars – on a scant 32 screens across America – was destined to change the face of cinema forever. An instant classic and an unparalleled box office success, the rousing “space opera” was equal parts fairy tale, western, 1930s serial and special effects extravaganza, with roots in mythologies from cultures around the world. From the mind of visionary writer/director George Lucas, the epic space fantasy introduced the mystical Force into the cultural vocabulary, as well as iconic characters such as evil Darth Vader, idealistic Luke Skywalker, feisty Princess Leia, lovable scoundrel Han Solo and wise Obi-Wan Kenobi. Since its 1977 debut, Star Wars has continued to grow, its lush narrative expanding from modest beginnings into an epic, six-film Saga whose Blu-ray release last year shattered global sales records. The Complete Saga on Blu-ray quickly became the #1 pre-order and #1 catalog title since the launch of the high-definition format ensuring that the Force will be strong with generations to come.

Under Variety’s direction, the scope of the Home Entertainment Hall of Fame has been broadened beyond traditional packaged video to recognize achievements in all home entertainment media and distribution formats, including Blu-ray, digital and videogames. Nevertheless, the purpose of the Hall of Fame remains true to the mission established at its founding 32 years ago: to recognize excellence in the home entertainment industry while aiding those in need.

The 2012 Variety Home Entertainment Hall of Fame will benefit Starlight Children’s Foundation, a leading global health and education charity working to embrace, empower and enrich the lives of children from illness to wellness. Since 1983, Starlight has invested in the emotional health of children with serious medical conditions through programs that help the entire family cope with the experiences of prolonged illness and improve the health outcomes of children. Each year Starlight enriches the lives of more than 4.5 million children globally by providing ongoing support to children, parents and siblings in all U.S. states and every province in Canada, and is a leading children’s charity in the United Kingdom and Australia. To learn more visit www.starlight.org.

Dinner tickets may be purchased for $495 each, or $4,950 for a table of ten. Purchases can be made online at www.variety.com/events. To be invoiced, contact Kate Hefler 323-617-9104.

To advertise in the commemorative issue of Variety, contact Andi Elliott at 301.774.6874 orandi.elliott@variety.com.

About Variety:

Variety is the leading publication for business entertainment news, recognized and respected throughout the world of show business. The Variety Group – Daily Variety, Daily Variety Gotham, Variety, Variety.com, LA 411, Variety 411 – are owned by Reed Business Information. RBI is a member of the Reed Elsevier Group plc (NYSE: RUK) (NYSE: ENL).

Lucasfilm, STAR WARS? and related properties are trademarks and/or copyrights, in the United States and other countries, of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. TM & © Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.

 

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

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So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

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