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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Add another one to Larry Miller's list.
The Utah Jazz owner, developer, car dealer and radio station owner is expanding into movie distribution.
Miller is partnering with movie producer Scott Swofford to form Vineyard Distribution LLC, which will handle national, international and home-video distribution of the two upcoming installments in the Mormon historical saga "The Work and the Glory."
Miller is bankrolling the movies, and Swofford is producing them for Vineyard Productions, the production company he co-founded in 1994.
Miller also owns the Megaplex Theatres chain, which has 17 screens at Sandy's Jordan Commons and another 12 at The Gateway in Salt Lake City.
The distribution company is "a natural result of him just owning the films and owning the theaters, and wanting to bridge the channel in between," said Dean Hale, who has been tabbed as director of the new company.
Excel Entertainment, the Salt Lake City company that has specialized in Mormon films, will remain involved in home-video distribution of the first "The Work and the Glory." Deseret Book, the publishing house owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, acquired Excel in November.
Among Miller's other properties are the Delta Center, TV station KJZZ, the Jordan Commons complex, and several Fanzz sports-apparel stores.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
