Today another loss of an entertainment venue is to be reported. However this is one of a larger scale. Miramax studios, the movie studio that brought us such films as Reservoir Dogs, The Crying Game, Clerks, Pulp Fiction, The English Patient, Chasing Amy, Good Will Hunting, Shakespeare in Love, Chicago, and No Country For Old Men, has been shut down. It was announced today by Disney, which bought the studio in 1993, that the studio is now no more. In one day eighty people have lost their jobs and the fate of six Miramax movies that are waiting distribution, such as The Debt and The Tempest, are as of now unknown.
Founded in 1979 by producers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, the studio was a haven for releasing artistic films and films that were experimentally creative. While the Weinsteins often drew criticism for rumors of bullying tactics and for re-cutting foreign films distributed in the US, it can’t be denied that the duo had a eye for finding new and creative talent, both in the people they worked with and the films they released. Filmmaker Kevin Smith has said that he owes his career to the studio, saying “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.” (The Wrap, Jan 2010)
In 1993 the studio was bought by Disney, who at first left the Weinsteins with an exceptional level of control over the studio. The Weinsteins left Miramax in 2005 over creative differences with Disney to form The Weinstein Company.
The future of Miramax has been uncertain for a while now. In October 2009 Disney announced that the number of movies released by Miramax would go from 6 to 8 films a year to 3 films per year. Then at the end of October 2009 Daniel Battsek, who took over as president of the studio after Bob and Harvey Weinstein left, resigned as head of the studio. Now the certainty of the studio is clear; it is to sadly die and go by the wayside.
While it may be no more, it will live on forever due to the amazing films it has been able to bring to the public. RIP.
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