Posted on 10/13/2004 5:42:03 PM PDT by wagglebee
Walt Disney Co. has given maverick Hollywood movie moguls Harvey and Bob Weinstein notice that it intends to end their Oscar-winning partnership after 12 years.
The US entertainment giant has let the founders of the once independent Miramax studios that has produced such Oscar winners as 2002's "The Hours" and "Chicago," know that it intends to cut them loose in September 2005, the industry bible Daily Variety said.
The Weinstein brothers, who founded Miramax in 1979 and went on to change the ground rules for Hollywood movie-making, sold the studio to Disney in 1993 under a deal that allowed them to stay on and run it.
The brothers' deal expires in 2009, but an option in the contract allows Disney to renegotiate the relationship in 2005, an option that Variety said is now looming amid months of squabbling between the outspoken pair and their corporate parent.
The Weinsteins are however still lobbying Disney's board of directors in the hope that the stellar financial performance of its recent hits will force a change in course.
"Bob and Harvey hope for an amicable resolution that will allow them to continue to be productive members of the Disney family," Variety quoted a Miramax spokesman as saying.
Disney declined to comment on the report that came after a public squabble between the pair earlier this year over Disney's refusal to distribute Michael Moore's Miramax-funded "Fahrenheit 9/11," which attacked US President George W. Bush.
Variety however quoted Disney sources as saying that while the Weinstein contract talks were continuing, the two sides had "exchanged oral and written communication stating that the current arrangement with Miramax will not continue after next year."
The Weinstein's have courted both Oscars glory and controversy in Hollywood through their courageous choice in projects and the disputed way in which they lobbied ruthlessly for Academy Awards recognition.
The pair gave the greenlight to films that no major studio would touch and turned them into gold, including the risky musical "Chicago," "The English Patient" and Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction."
There is really no one to root for in this fight.
I'm rooting for them to both lose!
"Hopefully both companies will go out of business."
Well, for maybe couple dozen big sh*ts (who are well connected and well off - so that even if both places go out of business, they wouldn't lose much) at both companies there are hundreds of lesser folks on payroll who are not responsible for companies' direction. Why would one wish unemployment on them?
The movie industry is growing every year, these people will have no problem finding jobs.
Why do you want Miramax to go out of business? They brought Hayao Miyazaki's superb anime features Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away to American screens, in dubbed formats that were true masterpieces. Disney needs to cut Miramax loose, just as Disney cut Pixar loose.
I guess even the most leftist entertainment companies have something worthwhile to offer, now and then.
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