R.I.P. Miramax

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Damien
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Post by Damien »

Here's a spt of good news to counteract the Miramax news:

New Yorker Films is back in business!



(February 9, 2010) Aladdin Distribution LLC, a Marina del Rey, CA-based company, has announced the acquisition of New Yorker Films’ library, which has amassed over 400 film titles.

Veteran film executives David Raphel, a former President of Twentieth Century Fox International, Christopher Harbonville, a producer formerly associated with the Cambridge Film Group; and Hani Musleh, a former investment banker, founded Aladdin Distribution LLC in late 2009, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aladdin Films Corporation, which is an international motion picture development, financing and production company.

New Yorker Films was founded by Dan Talbot in 1965, and became one of the most influential distributors of foreign language and independent films in the US. The principals of Aladdin Distribution LLC announced that Jose Lopez, formerly Dan Talbot’s business partner and Vice-President of New Yorker Films, will remain with the company and has been named President. Peter Marai has been hired as Acquisitions Consultant.

The company will operate out of New York City starting March 8, 2010, a year after New Yorker was forced to close its doors, the pioneer distributor of foreign language and independent films is back in business.

New Yorker Films is committed to continue releasing quality art and independent films from around the world. The company plans to acquire 6 to 8 titles each year for theatrical release. The Non-Theatrical and Home Video departments, both integral parts of the company, will continue acquiring and releasing numerous films.

New Yorker Films has a legendary legacy, boasting a long-standing track record in foreign film distribution, bringing a staggering number of international auteurs to American movie theaters for more than four decades. The company’s crucial role in establishing a lasting film culture in this country cannot be underestimated. An illustrious roster of directors whose films were released by New Yorker Films includes: Akerman, Alea, Bertolucci, Bresson, Chabrol, Fassbinder, Fellini, Godard, Herzog, Kieslowski, Kurosawa, Kusturica, Lanzmann, Malle, Ozu, Rivette, Rohmer, Rossellini, Sembene, Straub-Huillet, Tanner, Wenders, Errol Morris, Wayne Wang, and many others.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Sabin
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Post by Sabin »

I've taken a moment to contemplate the death of Miramax. What can you say?

Its adolescence was porn-obsessed, but as it grew vibrant and passionate, it succeeded in drawing the attention of the masses. I'm talking about Pelle the Conquerer, The Thin Blue Line, and Working Girls.

Then it had its big break. My Left Foot and sex, lies, and videotape in the same year. A foreign gem. A domestic indie blockbuster. Miramax had made its mark. It was a good, hell, it was a great time to be alive. They stood for something. Cinema Paradiso, The Grifters, and The Field would follow over the next couple of years among others. Not everyone kicks the door down once. Miramax did it twice, again in 1992, with a double whammy of Reservoir Dogs and The Crying Game. While also releasing Enchanted April, Strictly Ballroom, and Passion Fish, those two films mattered. A foreign gem. A domestic indie blockbuster.

Then a questionable move. They sold out to the Man! Disney bought them up, and we wondered if they could still do what they used to. The same year, they gave us The Piano and Farewell, My Concubine. They also began to put out a series of movies that went nowhere, but when you successfully sell twin Palme winners to America, it's hard to carp.

Then came 1994. Miramax became an empire -- or THE Empire, depending on if you are the competition. clerks. Bullets over Broadway. Red. Heavenly Creatures. The Crow. Il Postino. And Pulp Fiction. Some would spill into the next year, amidst little controversy-kickers like Priest and Kids, but Pulp. Fucking. Fiction. At this point in their career, Miramax has kicked down the door announcing its presence with authority a few times, but never before (and only one time again) like this. Pulp Fiction. The House that Quentin Built. A fistful of all-stars.

I miss the hungry Miramax. Not the 1994 Party-Hearty Miramax. The one that got small films out there because they believed in them. Because they couldn't not. By 1996, that age was over. The English Patient. An ambitious project devoid of A-listers sold to the masses and the Academy. A slightly phyrric victory b/c the year was devoid of an Oscar heavy-hitter, but nine wins is a good year. They also had begun to sell the summer as an IndieLite era with Emma. And in 1997 came Good Will Hunting. Miramax was a face and a had a face in Matt Damon. There was The Wings of the Dove, Mrs. Brown, and Jackie Brown, but Good Will Hunting crossed over in a very major way. Because it was a studio movie made by independents. This is now the new formula. And it applied the next year with Shakespeare in Love's domestic blockbuster and Life is Beautiful's foreign gem. They kicked the door down hard in 1998, but to what?

Over the past five years, scores of films were edited, re-edited, dropped, or forgotten. Miramax hungered for nothing and everything. It turns out all along they had no mission statement other than find the virus and destroy the virus. No longer artists but a successful part of the corporate machine. Sell-outs. 1999 brought The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Cider House Rules, the former an ambitious studio movie and the latter a modest IndieLite. This is where they are headed.

In the next century, Miramax flies to close to the sun. One would think that purchasing movies for $10 million that make tens of thousands would be criminal enough for how deep their pockets go, but now they make $80 million films that turnaround for years on end. Gangs of New York, All the Pretty Horses, The Shipping News, The Four Feathers, Pinocchio, The Human Stain, An Unfinished Life, The Brothers Grimm, and The Aviator. Not unlike Hughes in the latter film: Come in with the milk...come in with the milk...come in with the milk... None of these movies cheap, two making back more than a third of their cost. It's getting close to the end. Grandpa's making everyone uncomfortable. Finally, the part of their career where they are literally no longer in charge of their faculties. Miramax is cared to by others. There are moments of clarity and recognition but it's not going well. They're out to pasteur in a retirement community.

Miramax changed the filmic scene, inspired a lot of [understandably] wrathful competition but changed the marketplace. I think we just have to say thank you for playing their part in a revolution regardless of how genuine it ever was, and pick our favorite moments. Mine will always be selling sex, lies, and videotape to an America looking for porn and getting perv. And getting them to nod along in satisfaction. That's pretty cool.
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The Original BJ
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Post by The Original BJ »

The Weinstein Brothers have been on the receiving end of a lot of vitriol in recent years, and not all of it has been entirely undeserving (especially w.r.t. their blatant Oscar-baiting).

But I can't help but feel very sad for the final nail in the coffin of Miramax, particularly for what it seems to symbolize in our current film culture.

The Miramax of the late '80's/early '90's brought us truly groundbreaking works -- Pulp Fiction, The Piano, The Crying Game, sex, lies, & videotape -- films which defined the era and must have seemed like a blast of fresh air after much of the dreary 1980s.

Even later, when the studio's films grew more conservative, and the Weinsteins' lust for Oscar became more apparent, Miramax still managed to turn out some really classy, entertaining films for adults -- The English Patient, Good Will Hunting, Shakespeare in Love, Chicago. And let's not forget the company's hand in No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. (As well as, on the flip side, the breakfast-spoiling Oscar surprises of The Cider House Rules and Chocolat.)

Now yet another major studio's specialty division has closed, and the mainstream adult drama seems destined to die out completely. This year, in terms of big-ticket dramas, I count Up in the Air, Invictus, aaaaand.....? (I guess you'd have to count The Blind Side, but isn't that more evidence of the beginning of the end?) These days, you mostly have to look to the indies, but even a lot of those -- Precious, Crazy Heart, The Last Station -- seem way down on the originality totem pole from the blazing successes of Miramax in its heyday.

So, here's a tip of the hat to what the Weinstein Brothers created, and for the many memorable films their banner produced. And here's to hoping that the companies that have prospered in their wake -- namely Focus Features -- can continue to soar in these rough conditions.
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Post by Big Magilla »

It sprang to life in 1979 as the brainchild of bullish movie producers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and was named after their parents, but after a slow death from thousands of cuts, Miramax was officially closed today by Disney.

During its early years, the Weinsteins scrappily kept the ship afloat, shoved boundaries and helped bring the world the likes of Sex, Lies And Videotape, Clerks, The Piano, Reservoir Dogs, The Crying Game and The English Patient.

Rumours of the Weinsteins' bullying tactics and hard demeanor were rife, but they certainly seemed to have a keen eye for talent and an understanding of how to channel that into success.

Though it was bought for $70 million by Disney in 1993, the brothers continued to run Miramax with an enviable level of creative control, and pushed their already legendary Oscar-hunting style to new heights with the expanded funding offered by the Mouse House. Among the successes as winners or nominees were Shakespeare In Love, Chicago and The Talented Mr Ripley.

But money was also a constant problem, and the Weinsteins began to clash with Michael Eisner. In 2005, Bob and Harvey left the company, forced to let go of the Miramax named and formed The Weinstein Company, which currently struggles with financing issues.

"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."

All that remains now is to think of the children - along with 80 people losing their jobs in New York and LA, the six movies still under the banner, including The Tempest and The Debt, face an uncertain future.

Miramax, then… Gone, but not forgotten.

James White
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