Weinstein Company President Leaves the Studio

Big changes afoot at the corporate level over the past couple of weeks. Disney and its chairman, the 38-year employee Dick Cook, parted ways. MGM may be on the chopping block. And now, Tom Ortenberg has left his post as president of The Weinstein Company after less than a year on the job. Orternberg led Lionsgate as it developed a new model for studio success with low-budget fare like the Saw and Tyler Perry movies. He was also there when Crash won the mini-major a Best Picture Oscar. With TWC, Orternberg was in charge of marketing and distribution and his departure was, obviously, a bit of a surprise. However, earlier in the week, Weinstein announced that 35 jobs were cut, part of a restructuring plan that will also limit the company's number of theatrical releases to a proposed ten films a year. Thirty-five employees doesn't sound like a massive change, when you only release a dozen movies or less, you obviously have a smaller organization to deal with. While The Weinstein Company is enjoying its greatest individual success in its four-year history (Inglourious Basterds), things have never gone too swimmingly since Harvey and Bob left Miramax. If you look at what they spent to push The Reader for Oscars, it's hard to justify marketing expenses in the dozens of millions of dollars even if it wins Best Actress and only makes $100 million worldwide, especially if the Weinsteins foreclose on their future to do it. Back in August, anything but a rosy picture was painted for the studio's future, which I link to its past. When The Reader is your fifth biggest movie in four years and Hoodwinked trails only Scary Movie 4 and Basterds on a top ten list that also includes Wolf Creek and its $16.8 million domestic earnings, it's safe to say that you're simply not giving yourself a chance to be competitive in an increasingly crowded market that now sees baby brands like Summit and Ortenberg's old stomping grounds gobbling up huge pieces of the pie. According to Variety, The Weinstein Company had no comment on Ortenberg's departure, and it's immediately unclear what the executive's next move will be.

Comments

[SEAN]

WOW these guys are going down the tubes...

While I admire what they did for Kate Winslet to win the Oscar (even though Meryl Streep possibly should have, Im still tossed up with whose performance was better, in my eyes)

These guys especially Harvey have a not so good relationship with many people in the film industry including actors, Ive read horror stories how F-ed up these guys are....

-I mean hasseling Anthony Minghella widow soon after his death
-As well as hasseling the great Sydney Pollack on his deathbed

I mean come on....