Miramax shuts down

[Dr. Evil]

The writing was on the wall when Disney made this announcement, but The Wrap is reporting that today the studio will be closing the New York and Los Angeles offices of Miramax Films and 80 people will lose their jobs.

The site says that six movies awaiting distribution, including Last Night, The Debt and The Tempest, will be shelved or get a tepid release.

Founded in 1979 by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Miramax was a leading independent movie distribution and production company before it was acquired by Disney in 1993. In 2005, the Weinsteins decided to leave the company and founded The Weinstein Company.

"I'm feeling very nostalgic right now," Harvey Weinstein told the site yesterday. "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."

The Weinsteins have tried to buy the name of their former company back. Disney has not responded. But Bob Iger has made it known that he would be willing to sell Miramax outright – for about $1.5 billion.

For more on this, click here. You can check out Miramax's "Signature Films" at its official website.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=62746

MGM is probably next to go. I guess this leaves Sony Classics, Fox Searchlight and Focus Features as the only major Indie companies left owned by major studios.

[Webhead2006]

very sad news i was just reading this at a couple different sites. There is alot of films from miramax i liked growing up with. It would be nice since its closed now that disney would like the original founders buy back the name. As for the 6 films hopefully they will be released for the folks who worked on them.

As for MGM that is already known to be going soon. With its sale happening in feb. Hopefully a good person/company gets control of mgm stuff.

[GhostPoet]

I wish Lionsgate would get shut down. Man do they suck. They seem to be able to only produce big budget syfy original-like films.

I so rarely find a film they release that I LIKE.

[redfirebird2008]

The Weinsteins are supposedly looking to reacquire the Miramax name. Their Weinstein Company is in deep trouble right now though. They should have never sold the rights to Disney in the first place.

[Nivek]

Twilight of the Weinsteins...

[The Apatow Crew]

The house of mouse strikes again.

[corby]

Sad day for Miramax

Originally Posted by GhostPoet

I wish Lionsgate would get shut down. Man do they suck. They seem to be able to only produce big budget syfy original-like films

Dogma
American Psycho
Hotel Rwanda
Crash
Crank
Hard Candy
3:10 to Yuma
Drag Me to Hell
Brothers
Daybreakers

yeah I'm pretty sure all those were better than anything ever made by the Syfy channel

[The Apatow Crew]

Originally Posted by corby

Sad day for Miramax




Dogma
American Psycho
Hotel Rwanda
Crash
Crank
Hard Candy
3:10 to Yuma
Drag Me to Hell
Brothers
Daybreakers

yeah I'm pretty sure all those were better than anything ever made by the Syfy channel

That was made by Universal.

[Dark Victory]

This makes me a sad panda.

[Shifty]

Originally Posted by GhostPoet

I wish Lionsgate would get shut down. Man do they suck. They seem to be able to only produce big budget syfy original-like films.

I so rarely find a film they release that I LIKE.

Lionsgate is also behind Mad Men, Weeds and Nurse Jackie.

They do produce crap, they go from one extreme to the other in terms of quality.

[Hound55]

[Jackasscoley15]

Originally Posted by Hound55

You said it better than I ever could. I'm shocked.

[dude love]

Originally Posted by GhostPoet

I wish Lionsgate would get shut down. Man do they suck. They seem to be able to only produce big budget syfy original-like films.

I so rarely find a film they release that I LIKE.

Originally Posted by corby

Dogma
American Psycho
Hotel Rwanda
Crash
Crank
Hard Candy
3:10 to Yuma
Drag Me to Hell Rambo
Brothers
Daybreakers

yeah I'm pretty sure all those were better than anything ever made by the Syfy channel

Or 20th Century Fox!

LGF is todays equivalent Cannon Films.

[Octoberist]

RIP Miramax.

I feel bad for the movies that are in limbo (The Tempest) thanks to this closing.

[Octoberist]

Originally Posted by GhostPoet

I wish Lionsgate would get shut down. Man do they suck. They seem to be able to only produce big budget syfy original-like films.

I so rarely find a film they release that I LIKE.

Lionsgate is getting better now, with Precious, their purchase of Buried and the upcoming release of Kick-Ass.

Keep in mind, they were awesome in the early 2000s (including Hard Candy), and for a while they sucked due to depency of the Saw movies. But now it looks like they're trying to get some Indie cred.

[Red Mask]

Rest in Pieces, Miramax! It was fun ride!

[SoulManX]

Update | 3:39 p.m. As the indie Mecca of Sundance closes up shop for the year, industry watchers and movie fans are paying their respects to the onetime indie powerhouse Miramax, which shut its offices in New York and Los Angeles on Thursday.

“Eighty people will lose their jobs,” Sharon Waxman reported at The Wrap.com. “The six movies waiting distribution — ‘Last Night,’ ‘The Debt,’ ‘The Tempest’ among them — will be shelved, to gather dust, or win a tepid release.” (These are not dustbin movies: “The Debt” and “Last Night” star Sam Worthington, the current “Avatar” darling; Helen Mirren also stars in “Last Night,” about Mossad agents, as well as in “The Tempest.”)

The Walt Disney Company said the closing of the two offices was previously disclosed, last October, and that about 20 Miramax employees will be folded into the company’s movie infrastructure. And the six films already finished or greenlighted will be released under the Miramax banner, according to the company.

Miramax, founded by Harvey and Bob Weinstein 31 years ago, was a haven for boundary-pushing and Oscar-winning films, from Steven Soderbergh’s “sex lies and videotape,” which put Sundance on the map 21 years ago, to “Pulp Fiction,” “The English Patient” and “Shakespeare in Love.” And its success spurred the big studios to start or buy their own boutique divisions.

“Miramax wasn’t just a bad-boy clubhouse, it was a 20th-century Olympus,” the director Kevin Smith wrote to TheWrap.com, adding that he owes his career to the Weinsteins. (Harvey Weinstein also helped Mr. Smith’s daughter be born a Jersey girl by sending his private plane to pick up Mr. Smith’s wife when she went into labor in Los Angeles, and delivering her to the Garden State. True story!)

But in the years after the brothers Weinstein sold Miramax to Disney in 1993, it lost some of its arthouse sheen, and after some nasty battles with Disney and its former chief executive, Michael Eisner, the two sides parted ways. And in the last little while, Disney effectively dismantled it. The company announced the resignation of the president, Daniel Battsek, last fall and announced a smaller slate; the last film it released was the Robert De Niro holiday vehicle “Everybody’s Fine.” (At least the title was upbeat, Mr. Battsek joked at the premiere.)

“I’m feeling very nostalgic right now,” Harvey Weinstein wrote to Ms. Waxman, who wrote a book, “Rebels on the Backlot,” which featured the company. “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.”

Consider that a pat on the back: the Weinstein Company just hired two of them, according to Deadline Hollywood.

But when the Bagger spoke with Mr. Battsek in December, his future, at least, was uncertain. (He’s since been hired to run National Geographic Films.) Ditto the Miramax name, which the brothers Weinstein have publicly campaigned to get back. Disney’s chief executive, Robert I. Iger, has said that he would be willing to part with the whole shebang, back catalog and all, for $1.5 billion, which is probably too hefty for even Harvey’s ego. Though let’s recalibrate if “Inglourious Basterds” wins a slew of Oscars.


http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.co...end-of-an-era/

[matrix_ghost]

http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=333897

Already a thread about this man but yeah bummer

[GhostPoet]

Originally Posted by Octoberist

Lionsgate is getting better now, with Precious, their purchase of Buried and the upcoming release of Kick-Ass.

Keep in mind, they were awesome in the early 2000s (including Hard Candy), and for a while they sucked due to depency of the Saw movies. But now it looks like they're trying to get some Indie cred.

That probably explains why I don't like them...never really cared for most indie films.

[Nivek]

Originally Posted by Hound55

"Oh ****, I have to shop my stuff to other studios now?"

[Raiden]

Sad to see the end of an era, and although I didn't like how Miramax was able to campaign their films to get the Oscar (like Shakespeare in Love, which won Big Picture over Saving Pvt. Ryan), they had unbelievable lineup of films and the Weinstein Bros. made the biggest mistake of selling it to Disney. Other studios have picked up the mantle of championing indie movies, but Miramax will always be the pioneer in Hollywood.