FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:      Cary Brokaw, President and CEO
               Sheri Halfon, Senior Vice-President
               310-996-9800

                         ROBISON ENTERPRISES, INC. TAKES
                       STAKE IN AVENUE ENTERTAINMENT GROUP

            Robison Chairman to join Avenue Entertainment Group Board

     Los Angeles,  CA,  January 17, 2001 - - Avenue  Entertainment  Group,  Inc.
(AMEX: PIX) today announced that Robison  Enterprises,  Inc., a California based
investment  company,  has  agreed  to  make  by  private  placement  a  $600,000
investment in Avenue Entertainment Group.

     The Chairman of Robison  Enterprises,  Ann L.  Chapman,  will join Avenue's
board of directors.

     "We are very gratified by Robison's  investment in Avenue, and look forward
to working together. This is the first of a number of key steps to re-capitalize
the  company,  increase our  production  activity  and  implement  our plans for
strategic growth",  said Cary Brokaw,  President and CEO of Avenue Entertainment
Group, Inc. "We look forward to Ann Chapman's valuable  contributions in helping
to shape our company's future direction as a member of our board."

     "Avenue  Entertainment  Group and Cary  Brokaw  have an  outstanding  track
record for  producing  entertainment  programming  of the  highest  quality in a
variety of formats,"  said Mrs.  Chapman.  "Robison  Enterprises  is pleased and
excited to support and  participate  in the expansion of the company's  film and
television activity."

     Robison Enterprises represents a combination of private U.S. and Australian
interests with a concentration on media and entertainment.

     Avenue  Entertainment  Group is a  diversified  entertainment  company that
produces feature films,  movies for television and cable,  television series and
one-hour biography programs. Avenue Pictures, a division of Avenue Entertainment
Group,  and Brokaw have produced the Academy Award (R) winning  Restoration,  as
well as Robert Altman's Short Cuts and The Player, the later being nominated for
five Academy  Awards (R),  including  Best Picture.  Brokaw and Avenue have also
produced such features as Finding Graceland,  Drugstore Cowboy and The Object Of



Beauty.  The company's  most recent cable  production is the film version of the
Pulitzer Prize winning play, Wit, for HBO starring Emma Thompson and directed by
Mike  Nichols.   Upcoming  features  include   Mindhunters  to  be  financed  by
Intermedia.

Safe Harbor statement under the Private  Securities  Reform Act of 1995:  Except
for historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press
release are  forward-looking  statements  that involve risks and  uncertainties,
including   but  not  limited  to  economic,   competitive,   governmental   and
technological factors affecting the Company's operations,  markets, products and
prices, the inherent uncertainty of the film and television  production business
(in which success of a product depends upon  unpredictable  and changing factors
such as competition and audience  acceptance) and other factors discussed in the
Company's various filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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