Disney Officially Closing Miramax

We talked about this development twice in October, all but saying Miramax would shut its doors before long, and now it's happened. The Wrap reports that Disney is closing Miramax offices in New York and Los Angeles. If there's any upside to the layoffs, it's that Miramax had been shedding employees for a while, so this accounts for fewer than 100 people left without jobs. The divorce between Disney, which has owned Miramax since the early 1990s, and Harvey and Bob Weinstein left both parties in disarray. Miramax seemed listless by and large over the past five years or so, although there have been some highlights. The Weinsteins went to form their own small studio, which has had its share of problems, too. Ultimately, I don't know if anybody won after the split. Said Harvey Weinstein of the news that Miramax was folding up its tent, “I know the movies made on my and my brother Bob’s watch will live on as well as the fantastic films made under the direction of Daniel Battsek. Miramax has some brilliant people working within the organization and I know they will go on to do great things in the industry.” Most commonly associated these days with shaking up the Academy Awards for about a decade thanks to aggressive marketing of films that might not otherwise be invited to the party, Miramax championed smaller, more peculiar, less mainstream films and had a phenomenal track record for a studio of its size. The Disney acquisition came in 1993; the Weinsteins left in 2005, following a very public spat over Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 (although there were certainly other issues). So the studio that gave Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino homes fades to black. The model it created is still around, expertly tailored by Fox Searchlight and to a slightly lesser degree, Focus and Sony Classics.

Comments

[SEAN]

"So its happened...." -Meryl Streep - Doubt

Yeah it sucks for them but I doubt the Harvey Weinstein cares, given his trackrecord for "bullying" shall I say, I think he rather doesn't mind

[SEAN]

Ohhh got a question that I'd love an answer to...

What happened between Disney & Weinstein about Farenheight 9/11??????

[SEAN]

Whoops nvm.....

Answer : Wikipedia it

[Get The Big Picture]

Mike Eisner refused to release it because he thought it would anger conservative politicians in Florida so much that Disney World would lose tax breaks. It happened right around the time of the Weinsteins' contract negotiations with Disney, and Harvey and Eisner never really got along, so...they walked.