Miramax’s Weinsteins, Disney Near Break-Up
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Brothers Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein will meet with executives of Walt Disney Co. this week to iron out the details of their exit from Oscar-winning powerhouse Miramax Films, a source with knowledge of the talks said on Tuesday.
The brothers founded the Disney unit and guided it to best film Oscars — the top U.S. movie honors — for the likes of 2002’s “Chicago,” but have for years had a contentious relationship with Disney chief executive Michael Eisner.
The pair have been in talks to exit Miramax since last year, and it appears the Oscar ceremony this coming Sunday, Feb. 27, will be their swansong with Miramax, which is backing best picture nominees “The Aviator” and “Finding Neverland.”
“They are continuing negotiations this week,” the source said, “A deal is imminent.”
A Disney spokeswoman was not immediately available. Miramax would say only that there was nothing new to report in the ongoing negotiations.
Under plans being considered, the Weinsteins would leave their posts as co-chief executives but remain as consultants to help market certain upcoming films, the source said.
Some of those titles include comic book themed “Sin City” and kids’ movie “The Adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl” — both from director Robert Rodriguez — as well as drama “Proof,” starring Gwyneth Paltrow.
The Weinsteins would be free make their own movies and find a new distribution partner.
Disney would pay the Weinsteins around $100 million to settle their contract, which expires on Sept. 30, 2005, although a final amount has yet to be determined.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Disney would retain the Miramax library of some 800 films with titles that include 1998’s Oscar winner “Shakespeare in Love,” starring Paltrow, and director Quentin Tarantino’s popular “Pulp Fiction” and “Kill Bill: Vol. 1” and “Vol. II” titles. Libraries are a highly lucrative means of generating cash from sales of DVDs, videos and television rights.
Disney would retain the Miramax brand name, which the Weinsteins had sought to keep because it is based on their parent’s names, Miriam and Max.
Miramax would become a slimmer unit with an annual budget around $300 million, far less than the $700 million Miramax under the Weinsteins but closer to the budgets of the art-house movie wings of Hollywood’s other major studios.
Staff, which now numbers less than 300 people, would be cut, although a final number has yet to be determined, the source said.
The employee count has fallen steadily since Miramax said in August of last year it was laying off 13 percent of its then 485-member staff. Just last month, Miramax Chief Operating Officer Rick Sands left to join DreamWorks SKG.
The Weinsteins have been a major film force in New York, where Miramax is based, and in Hollywood for more than two decades. Based on the success of low-budget hits like “sex, lies and videotape,” the brothers sold their company to Disney in 1993 for around $75 million.
Since then the Weinsteins have increasingly pursued more expensive films like last year’s Oscar contender “Cold Mountain,” while Disney wanted the unit to stay closer to its low-budget, independent roots.
Tension between the Weinsteins and Disney came to a head last May when Disney refused to release Michael Moore’s controversial anti-Bush documentary, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which Miramax had backed. The Weinsteins acquired the film from Miramax and found an independent distributor to release it.
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