LATEST NEWS
Disney's Indie Distributor Miramax Officially Closes its Doors
by Alex Billington
January 28, 2010
Source: The Wrap
After operating for over 31 years, Miramax has finally shut down, and its New York and Los Angeles offices will both be closed. Another casualty of this economy? Or just another casualty of the always-changing world of motion pictures? Ever since Mike Judge's Extract bombed last year, Miramax has been on the verge of closing down. And now with Rich Ross running Disney, that studio, which has owned Miramax for 17 years, has finally put the last nail in its coffin. For those that don't know, the distributor was originally founded in 1979 by Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who broke off due to infighting in 2005 to start their own company.
In its early days, Miramax distributed films like The Piano, Pulp Fiction, Sex, Lies & Videotape, The English Patient, Shakespeare In Love, and The Talented Mr Ripley, and was also the home of Kevin Smith's early films, starting with Clerks in 1994. Disney acquired the distributor in 1993 and it was doing well until the 2000s. New Miramax films that are still to be released, including Last Night, The Debt, and The Tempest, will be "shelved, to gather dust, or win a tepid release," according to The Wrap. The studio tried to make a comeback in recent years with films like The Queen and No Country for Old Men, but to no success.
Miramax has quite a history and will be remembered. The Wrap has a good wrap-up looking back at their 31 years in existence. And because we're still at Sundance, I'll also suggest reading Peter Biskind's book Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film, which chronicles the early days of Miramax and its big acquisitions at Sundance, since the studio is responsible for introducing Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino to this world (you can buy the book on Amazon). It'll be very sad to see Miramax shut down, however, this may make room for smarter and better indie distributors to strive in this industry.
"I'm feeling very nostalgic right now," Harvey Weinstein said. "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." I think the best way to end this is with Kevin Smith's quote from his response in The Wrap as well. "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."
13 Comments
1
Where does Emily Blunt's "Gnome and Juliet" go???
CB4 on Jan 28, 2010
2
miramax will be missed,thanks for distrubuting one of my favorite films of all time PULP FICTION.
tobi,leader of the akatsuki on Jan 28, 2010
3
I am not sure but I heard somewhere that Disney is taking that one over since it is marketable and according to boxofficemojo today has just got a release date for 2/11/11. Sounds similair to the New Line folding into the WB situation. It will probably have the Miramax title card, maybe, but all of the behind-the-scenes work is Disney or BV.
Ryan on Jan 28, 2010
4
Too bad, I wont be crying over it but they've put out some favorites of mine.
Cody on Jan 28, 2010
5
I guess the Miramax executives wouldn't sell out to this childish 3D fad.
Hattori Hanzo on Jan 28, 2010
6
This is really sad news. I will miss seeing the Miramax logo on the silver screen. They backed some truly fantastic films and directors.
Brandon on Jan 28, 2010
7
What a sad news. I hate to see the word DIE along with MIRAMAX, i hope its just a break.
dex on Jan 28, 2010
8
To the good times.
Frightened Inmate #2 on Jan 28, 2010
9
#5 if thats the case they went out with their heads held high! here's to Reservoir Dogs!
Xerxex on Jan 28, 2010
10
Nihilism films is what they should of been called. They screwed up a lot of movies they got their hands on, re-editting them. I'll never forgive them for what they did to the Thief and the Cobbler, The Brothers Grimm, and Arthur and the Minimoys. Also them supporting the piece of shit Quentin Tarantino! who'll distribute Michael Moore's docuslant films.
dan on Jan 28, 2010
11
Here's to my favorite movie distributor! Here! Here!
DoomCanoe on Jan 29, 2010
12
It is sad to see Miramax film Distributor go under, I think myself Disney could have done more to support it, But that my opion.
Cineprog on Jan 29, 2010
13
A genuine shame. Out of all the indie studios, Miramax was one of the best, along with Fox Searchlight.
Corran Horn on Jan 30, 2010
New comments are no longer allowed on this post.
FEATURED POSTS
FOLLOW FS HERE
Follow Alex's main account on Twitter:
Add our posts to your Feedly › click here
Get all the news sent on Telegram 
LATEST TO WATCH