Miramax Films

Miramax Films is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent and foreign films. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein. In 1993, the company was acquired by The Walt Disney Company. In 2005, the brothers founded the Weinstein Company.

Alternate logos

History

In 1993 Miramax was purchased for $60 million by The Walt Disney Company. Harvey and Bob Weinstein continued to operate Miramax until they left the company on September 30, 2005. During their tenure, the Weinstein brothers ran Miramax independently of other Disney companies. Disney, however, had the final say on what Miramax could release (Fahrenheit 9/11, Kids and Dogma, are examples). Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment division releases Miramax output.

Miramax operated, until 2005, the label Dimension Films, specializing in genre films and created the Spy Kids, Scream and Scary Movie film franchises.

After extensive negotiations and much media and industry speculation, on March 30, 2005, Disney and the Weinsteins announced that they would not renew their contractual relationship when their existing agreements expired at the end of September 2005. The primary source of dispute was over distribution of Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore. Disney's film studio consortium, Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group assumed control of Miramax, which was projected to have a smaller annual production budget. The Weinsteins started a new film production company called simply The Weinstein Company, and took the Dimension Films label with them. The Miramax name remained with the film studio owned by Disney. Production at Miramax was taken over by Daniel Battsek, who formerly was head of Buena Vista International in the UK. Battsek refocused Miramax to produce films of high quality but low budget. Maple Pictures held the rights to distribute Miramax films in Canada from 2008 up until August 10, 2011 when Maple Pictures was acquired by Alliance Films.

On October 3, 2009, Disney announced that the staff of Miramax was to be reduced by 70%, and the number of releases would be reduced by half to just three films per year. The label's marketing, distribution and administrative functions, which had operated independently, would be folded into the parent studio in Burbank. The move became effective in January 2010. On October 30, 2009, Disney announced the resignation of Daniel Battsek as President of Miramax Films, effective when the transition from the studio in New York to Burbank was completed.The company merged its operations with Walt Disney Studios on January 28, 2010, shutting down Miramax's separate New York and Los Angeles offices.

Though Disney Studio Chairman Dick Cook was a staunch supporter of Miramax, the brand was less of a priority for Bob Iger, whose strategy was to focus on Disney's branded mass entertainment that can be exploited across Disney's theme parks, television and consumer products. Following Disney's $4-billion acquisition of Marvel Entertainment in 2010, and Cook was succeeded by Rich Ross. As a result, Miramax was relegated to the status of distribution label. The company confirmed that it was looking into the selling the Miramax label on February 9, 2010, with Bob Iger explaining, "We determined that continuing to invest in new Miramax movies wasn't necessarily a core strategy of ours".

On November 23, 2010, it was reported that Google was interested in purchasing the digital rights to the Miramax library to improve the premium content offerings on YouTube, and compete with similar services such as Hulu and Netflix.

On December 3, 2010, Disney closed the sale of Miramax for US $663 million to Filmyard Holdings, an investment group. The sale included 700 film titles, as well as books, development projects and the "Miramax" name. Mike Lang, the former News Corporation business development executive who was selected as the CEO of Miramax, indicated that the company would focus on their existing library.

After the sale was closed, some movies already developed at Miramax, including The Tempest and Gnomeo & Juliet, were eventually released by Disney under its Touchstone Pictures banner, and theatrical distribution of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and The Debt has been shifted to FilmDistrict and Focus Features respectively.

Films

1993

Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.
Tom and Jerry: The Movie
Map of the Human Heart
The Innocent
The Night We Never Met
Deception
Farewell My Concubine
The Piano

1994

Bullets Over Broadway
Camilla
Clerks
The Crow
Exotica
Fresh
Heavenly Creatures
Little Buddha
Loaded
Mother's Boys
The NeverEnding Story III: Escape from Fantasia
Pulp Fiction
Queen Margot
Ready to Wear
Royal Deceit
Sirens
Strawberry and Chocolate
Through the Olive Trees
Tom & Viv

1995

A Month by the Lake
Smoke
Blue in the Face
Cry, The Beloved Country
The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain
Four Rooms
Victory
Fresa y Chocolate
Georgia
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
Il Postino
Kids
Dead Man
Lie Down with Dogs
Mighty Aphrodite
Moondance
Muriel's Wedding
Picture Bride
Priest
Restoration
Runaway Brain (2015 Disney Movies Anywhere reissue only)
The Crossing Guard
The Crude Oasis
The Glass Shield
The Road Killers
Country Life
The Thief and the Cobbler
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead
Two Bits
Unzipped

1996

Beautiful Girls
Basquiat
Sling Blade
Brassed Off
Captives
Chungking Express
Citizen Ruth
Così
Emma
Everyone Says I Love You
Marvin's Room
Trainspotting
Flirting with Disaster
French Twist
From Dusk Till Dawn
Hellraiser: Bloodline
Jane Eyre
Faithful (co-production with New Line Cinema, Price Entertainment and Savoy Pictures)
Of Love and Shadows
Microcosmos
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Miracle at Oxford
Ridicule
Shall We Dance?
The Crow: City of Angels
The English Patient (winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture)
The Journey of August King
The Pallbearer
The Star Maker
Unhook the Stars
Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
Swingers

1997

Addicted to Love
Albino Alligator
Chasing Amy
Cop Land
Good Will Hunting
Shades of Fear
The House of Yes
Jackie Brown
Love Serenade
Mimic
Mouth to Mouth
Mrs. Brown
The Rage
Rhyme & Reason
Robinson Crusoe
She's So Lovely
Squeeze
The Substance of Fire
The Wings of the Dove
Welcome to Sarajevo
Children of Heaven

1998

54
The Big One
A Price Above Rubies
Air Bud: Golden Receiver
Celebrity
All I Wanna Do
Down in the Delta
Everest IMAX
Firelight
Hav Plenty
Heaven
Jerry and Tom
Life is Beautiful
Little City
Little Voice
Monument Ave.
Next Stop Wonderland
Phantoms
Playing by Heart
Telling You
Ride
Rounders
Senseless (co-production with Dimension Films)
Shakespeare in Love
Since You've Been Gone
Sliding Doors
Smoke Signals
Summer Fling
Sweet Revenge
Talk of Angels
That's the Way I Like It
The Mighty
The Truce
The Very Thought of You
Velvet Goldmine
Wide Awake

1999

A Walk on the Moon
An Ideal Husband
B. Monkey
Diamonds
East is East
Happy, Texas
Holy Smoke!
Human Traffic
Outside Providence
Mansfield Park
Music of the Heart
My Life So Far
My Son the Fanatic
Princess Mononoke
She's All That
The Cider House Rules
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Rogue Trader
Wishful Thinking

2000

Down to You
Committed
Hamlet
Love's Labour's Lost
In the Weeds
Highlander: Endgame
The Yards
Bounce
A Hard Day's Night
All the Pretty Horses
Malèna
Vatel
Chocolat

2001

The Taste of Others
Blow Dry
Get Over It
Bridget Jones's Diary
Calle 54
About Adam
The Son's Room
Tears of the Black Tiger
The Closet
Everybody's Famous!
Apocalypse Now Redux
The Others
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
The Musketeer
Serendipity
On the Line
Daddy and Them
Amélie
Baran
Behind the Sun
Pinero
Iris
In the Bedroom
Kate & Leopold

2002

Speakeasy
The Shipping News
Italian for Beginners
Birthday Girl
40 Days and 40 Nights
Stolen Summer
Enigma
Lucky Break
The Importance of Being Earnest
Tadpole
Full Frontal
Undisputed
The Four Feathers
Heaven
Comedian
Naqoyqatsi
Frida
Pokémon 4Ever
Waking Up in Reno
Ararat
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Equilbrium
Gangs of New York
Pinocchio
Chicago
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

2003

City of God
The Hours
The Quiet American
Gerry
View from the Top
Dysfunktional Family
People I Know
Blue Car
Only the Strong Survive
Pokémon Heroes
Jet Lag
Dirty Pretty Things
Buffalo Soldiers
The Magdalene Sisters
The Battle of Shaker Heights
Duplex
The Station Agent
Kill Bill Volume 1
The Human Stain
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
The Barbarian Invasions
Bad Santa
Cold Mountain

2004

My Baby's Daddy
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
Jersey Girl
Shaolin Soccer
Ella Enchanted
I'm Not Scared
You Can't Stop the Murders
Kill Bill Volume 2
Valentín
Pokémon: Jirachi Wish Maker
Zatoichi
Garden State
Hero
Paper Clips
Infernal Affairs
Shall We Dance?
Chestnut: Hero Of Central Park
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Finding Neverland
The Chorus
Darkness
The Aviator

2005

Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys
Bride & Prejudice
Cursed
The Best of Youth
Dear Frankie
Hostage
Twin Sisters
Cinderella Man
Deep Blue
The Warrior
Secuestro Express
The Great Raid
The Brothers Grimm
Underclassman
An Unfinished Life
Daltry Calhoun
Proof
Show Me
Derailed
Undertaking Betty
The Matador

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia page Miramax Films. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. Text from Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.