Miramax Is No MoreRSS

Miramax Is No More

29th Jan 2010
By Andrew Hedley, Flicks.co.nz

One more arthouse film outlet has folded after Disney officially closed Miramax, reports The Wrap.

The company began in 1979, started by two brothers, Harvey and Bob Weinstein. It was bought by Disney in 1993. The brothers eventually left due to disagreements with Disney head Michael Eisner in 2005 to form The Weinstein company (which was never as successful).

Throughout the '90s and most of the '00s, the mini-major produced a string of award-winners and commercial success stories including Sex, Lies And Videotape, The Piano, Reservoir Dogs, The Aviator, Chicago, Chocolat, The Cider House Rules, Clerks, Cold Mountain, The Crying Game, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The English Patient, Gangs of New York, Good Will Hunting, The Hours, Kill Bill, The Others, Pulp Fiction, The Queen, Shakespeare in Love, Swingers, The Talented Mr. Ripley and Trainspotting.

"Miramax wasn't just a bad-boy clubhouse, it was a 20th century Olympus: throw a can of Diet Coke and you hit a modern-day deity," recalls Kevin Smith at The Wrap. "And for one brief, shining moment, it was an age of magic and wonders. I'm crushed to see it pass into history, because I owe everything I have to Miramax. Without them, I'd still be a New Jersey convenience store register jockey. In practice, not just in my head."

"I'm feeling very nostalgic right now," Harvey tells the site. "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."

For a great account of Miramax's heady glory days read Down and Dirty Pitctures by Peter Biskind.