Millennium Films on Tuesday named Mark Gill as its new president.
The announcement comes one month after long-time Millennium/Nu Image partner Danny Dimbort left to join Red Granite pictures. Joe Gatta, who had been head of Millennium, also joined Red Granite.
Gill, the former president of Miramax and Warner Independent, will have broader responsibilities than Gatta had, including marketing, development, packaging and promotions.
Gill recently headed The Film Department, which closed in May -- a victim of the credit crunch.
Here's the company's release:
MARK GILL IS NAMED PRESIDENT OF MILLENNIUM FILMS
LOS ANGELES, CA -- Former Miramax Films and Warner Independent president Mark Gill has been named President of Millennium Films. The company plans to produce and finance five to eight star-driven, wide-release films per year with budgets between $20 and $80 million.
Gill will work closely with Nu Image/Millennium Films toppers Avi Lerner and Trevor Short and development head Boaz Davidson, starting in July, with particular focus on development, packaging, production and marketing.
Gill has 25 years of film business experience and a production track record of more than $1 billion at the box office.
“It’s a new Millennium,” said Lerner. “Mark and I have known each other for 10 years, and have worked together very well in the past. He is highly respected in the creative community, has a strong business sense, and is a very hard worker who likes to move as quickly as we do. I am confident that we will be an extremely effective team.”
“At first glance, Avi and I may seem like the ultimate odd couple,” Gill said. “But we’ve always gotten along really well, and we share the same ambition—to make high-quality commercial movies that are strong both creatively and economically on a worldwide basis. The most recent indication: he just completed production on a film directed by Gabriele Muccino starring Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Catherine Zeta Jones, Uma Thurman and Dennis Quaid (Playing the Field). I admire his business acumen, and have a ton of respect for his longevity in a business that tends to eat its young. And he makes me laugh.”
Gill was most recently the CEO and co-founder of The Film Department, an independent movie production and finance company, which was best known for “Law-Abiding Citizen,” a $40 million thriller starring Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx that earned $133 million at the worldwide box office.
In the three prior years, Gill served as the founding president of Warner Independent Pictures. In his tenure, the company produced 15 films and earned 11 Oscar nominations, notably for “March of the Penguins” and “Good Night, and Good Luck.”
Gill joined Warner Independent from Stratus Film Co. (a partnership with “Saving Private Ryan” producer Mark Gordon and financier Bob Yari) where he helped put together four films including “Laws of Attraction,” “Matador” and “The Painted Veil.”
