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 companys 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 Soderberghs 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 wasnt 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. Smiths daughter be born a Jersey girl by sending his private plane to pick up Mr. Smiths 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 Everybodys Fine. (At least the title was upbeat, Mr. Battsek joked at the premiere.)
Im 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 Bobs 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. (Hes since been hired to run National Geographic Films.) Ditto the Miramax name, which the brothers Weinstein have publicly campaigned to get back. Disneys 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 Harveys ego. Though lets recalibrate if Inglourious Basterds wins a slew of Oscars.
http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/the-end-of-an-era/
