End of the Road? Miramax Staff Cut to 20 Employees

These are troubled times for Bob and Harvey Weinstein and now their unlucky streak is hitting their former company, Miramax. Remember when the Miramax name carried weight? It was a brand and you know what kind of movie you were getting, and very often, a film didn't need anything but that familiar logo to get in front of the right audience. Not anymore. Disney, which has owned Miramax for about 15 years but pushed the Weinsteins out the door five years ago or so, has cut roughly 75% of the jobs at its boutique studio, leaving only 20 employees in place when January rolls around. Now, almost out of necessity, Miramax will also cut the number of films it releases to - get this - three a year. Obviously, with only 20 employees, there's only so much you can do. But honestly, if you're putting out a movie every four months, why bother? As it stands, Disney will take over the marketing and distribution for those films, which leads me to suspect that this is a transitional phase after which Disney will either turn Miramax into a bigger kind of Sony Classics thing (doubtful) or just fold it altogether and keep its thriving home video catalog going. A shame really. Miramax will still have more films next year and 2011 based on previous deals, but the thought is downsizing this arm of Disney is part of an overall restructuring at The House of Mouse, which includes the recent falling out with Dick Cook, the former company chairman who spent 38 years with the studio. So this sounds like the end of Miramax to me. A great run while it lasted, and then whatever the last few years have been.

Comments

[Nick C.]

I'm surprised no one has commented on this. This is very sad news to the film industry. Mirmax, I have a strong feeling, is going to be the first in a long line of studios to close its doors these next few years.

It hasn't had that great of a run recently, but they used to have some great films pumping out, and it worries me to hear something like this. The industry is changing, and as such, we're gonna see a lot of this kind of news, and it really does hit home. Proof of the times I guess.

Goodbye Mirmax! You will be remembered =(

[MRPigg]

It is sad that such an historic and influential company has been hit so hard. On the bright side, now with Dick Cook out of the picture, we don't have to put up with all them lame comedies like Good Luck Chuck anymore...

...oh, wait a minute...

[Fa Fa Flooey]

If this means good riddance to that fat f*ck Harvey Weinstien (his comments regarding the Polanksi situation made me vomit in my mouth), all the better...

[SEAN]

It sucks yeah but perhaps the Weinsteins are at fault...

Iv posted on a article here before that it seemed to me that they werent too great admirers of the Hollywood actors... let alone most of the film industry...

So yeah...

I bet Scott Rudin (another super producer & frequent beef he has with the Weinsteins) is happy as can be !!!