Category — miramax

According to the LA Times the Weinstein brothers and the Walt Disney Company has agreed to the details of their upcoming split. Sadly the brothers will have to give up the name that was derived from the names of their parents. I’m sure they’ll get over it. Hundreds of other company founders have.

Miramax will continue to exist as a part of the Walt Disney Company. It will return to producing mainly art films with a smaller budget and under the watchful eye of the the Studio bosses. I very much hope that the spirit of Miramax is not totally lost in the change. The company is known for taking chances with subject material other studios wouldn’t touch.

The Harvey and Bob Weinstein are not leaving this deal empty handed. Aside from the money they have already made they do get a fairly nice parking package. They have already announced their intentions to continue making films. Now they’ll just have to do it with their own money or money they can raise personally. They stated they back their films 100%, now they get a chance to put their money where their mouths are. I have no doubt they will continue to be a force in the entertainment industry.

This looks to be the first in a number of deals that were waiting to go through until Eisner’s successor was known. Following soon is Pixar, ESPN vs. various cable companies, and other deals that have been on hold. I’m keeping my fingers crossed Iger and Jobs can reach some sort of agreement that is beneficial for all parties.

Looks like the talent pool at Miramax just got siphoned down a few notches. Dreamworks SKG, the parent company of Dreamworks Animation, has just hired away Miramax’s CEO, Rick Sands. Not sure what Disney plans to do with the rotting husk of a company that will be left once the Weinstein brothers leave in September.

More rumblings between the Weinstein brothers and Disney regarding the future of their company Miramax. Eventually these rumblings are going to build upto an earthquake and Disney is on much more stable footing.

The whole issue comes down to how much money a profit center makes for the company. Corporate hands out goals for the year 10,20,30 percent and if you don’t meet those goals you’re in danger of having corporate shut you down. Never mind that the 8% profit you might be making is near a hundred million dollars. Never mind that if Disney shuts down that profit center then they likely lose those customers.

Part of me things they’re deliberately shunning those customers from Miramax. They don’t want them. The other part of me thinks Disney’s too stupid to know what they’re doing. As a stockholder, either answer leaves me unsettled.

For a long time, Peter on the stage was played by a young woman in tights – the rump, as it were, of late Victorian theatre. A nubile woman
in the role, with her frank appeal to the heterosexual adult tastes of
the fathers in the house, obscured the difficult matters of child
sexuality, sibling hatred and child-death that infest the play and may
be defined as everything Walt Disney omitted from his 1953 cartoon.

With the release of Finding Neverland, The Times Literary Supplement re-examines J.M. Barrie’s Freudian and Oedipal story, Peter Pan.

For all of you attempting to follow along with the Disney, Miramax, and Weinstein brothers contract negotiations, The New Statesman has a great primer. I imagine a lot of this is up in the air until the next CEO of Disney is decided upon.

Word has it that Eisner’s resignation letter has already had a good effect and smoothed the way for a new contract with the Weinstein brothers. Looks like both brothers will be staying in the Disney fold.

For years Touchstone Pictures was the black sheep of the Disney family. No one really wanted to talk about them and their non-Disney films. But there they were all those years making money for the mouse. Then along came Miramax and the Weinstein Brothers and a new level of blacksheep-dom was set.

Miramax has been making good money for the Disney Company for some time now, but the contract with between the Weinstein Brothers and Disney is just about up and speculation has been running wild for sometime now. The LA Times had an interesting story (pesky free registration required) that looked at the Bottom Line and came up with an interesting answer. Maybe Disney doesn’t need both brothers… just the really profitable one.