[5] During this time, Lerner executive produced many films, such as American Ninja 2: The Confrontation and River of Death for Cannon as well as Howling IV: The Original Nightmare for Harry Alan Towers.

After pressure from anti-apartheid forces, Cannon closed its African operations in 1988,[6] Lerner created a new company, Nu Image, to produce original, low budget films alongside his brother Danny Lerner and other Cannon employees Trevor Short, Danny Dimbort and Boaz Davidson.

Many stars, writers and directors from The Cannon Group, Inc. appeared in films for Nu Image, including David Bradley, Michael Dudikoff, Sam Firstenberg and Billy Drago.

[8] However, their efforts to break into the mainstream with mockbusters such as Freefall starring Eric Roberts, Jeff Fahey and Pamela Gidley, created to capitalise on the success of Sylvester Stallone's Cliffhanger failed to make much of an impact.

[9] After the successes of creature features such as Anaconda and Deep Blue Sea released in the late 1990s, Nu Image produced a spate of low budget franchises to capitalise on the trend including; Tobe Hooper's Crocodile, Shark Attack, Spiders, Killer Rats, Octopus and Raging Sharks and various sequels were produced from 1999 to 2005.

[10] In March 2007, Nu Image acquired a controlling 52% stake in independent film and home video company First Look Studios.

[25] In 2017, a deal was reached with The Recon Group, a Chinese investment firm, for them to purchase a majority stake in the Millennium Films subsidiary.