Miramax

Miramax logo

Miramax logo

Miramax Films was a Big Ten film motion picture distribution and production company headquartered in New York City before being bought out by The Walt Disney Company.

Founded by the brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein in 1979, and named by combining the first names of their parents Max and Miriam, the company was originally created in order to distribute independent films which were deemed commercially inviable at the major studios.

The company's first major success came when the Weinsteins teamed up with British producer Martin Lewis and acquired US rights to two concert films Lewis had produced of benefit shows for human rights organization Amnesty International. The Weinsteins worked with Lewis to distill the two films into one film for the US marketplace and the resulting film The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (US Version) was a successful release for Miramax in the summer of 1982. It also presaged a modus operandi that the company would undertake later in the 1980s of acquiring films from international filmmakers and reworking them to suit US sensibilities.

The company subsequently acquired a number of films which did extraordinarily well financially and the company was one of the leaders of the independent film revolution of the 1990s. It produced or distributed seven films with box office grosses totalling more than $100 million and its most successful title, Chicago, earned more than $300 million worldwide [1].

In 1993 Miramax was purchased for $70 million by The Walt Disney Company. Harvey and Bob Weinstein ran Miramax until they left the company on September 30, 2005. During their tenure, the Weinstein brothers ran Miramax independently of other Disney companies. However, Disney had the final say on what Miramax could release (see Fahrenheit 9/11 and Dogma, for examples). Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment division releases Miramax output.

On March 30, 2005, Disney exercised an option to void the Weinsteins' contracts. The company's film studio consortium, Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group assumed control of Miramax, which will have a smaller annual production budget. The Weinsteins have started a new film production company simply titled The Weinstein Company and took the Dimension Films label with them, but the Miramax name will remain with the film studio owned by Disney. It is currently run by Daniel Battsek.

Miramax is currently developing a film of the Fathers 4 Justice movement to go into production next year, made by Harbour Pictures (Calendar Girls and written by Danny Brocklehurst.

Criticism

Miramax has come under severe criticism from foreign film fans for its editing, dubbing, and replacing the soundtracks of various foreign films it releases. One notable example is Iron Monkey, which though released subtitled, had its subtitles altered to remove the political context of the story, had scenes trimmed and changed for violence and pacing, and had the soundtrack changed, removing the famous Wong Fei Hung theme. Other films that they have altered in this way include Shaolin Soccer, Farewell My Concubine (theatrical release) and Jet Li's Fist of Legend, which was released both edited and dubbed, with no option to watch the DVD subtitled. The Weinsteins' Miramax also had a notorious history of buying the rights to Asian films only to sit on them without releasing them for many years, while trying to bar retailers from selling authentic imported DVDs of the films. Hero is one such example which was only salvaged after Quentin Tarantino's intervention. A number of Asian producers who sold their distribution rights to the company refuse to do so for their subsequent films.

MonkeyPeaches, a website about Chinese movies, accuses both its ISP and Miramax of "backstabbing" their site by threatening, without giving the site any warning, a lawsuit unless it immediately stopped selling Hero, which was still in US theaters. The ISP responded by shutting down the site. [2]

Miramax also has a family films division, Miramax Family Films.

Selected list of Miramax films

• Playing for Keeps (1986)
• Yellow Pages (1988)
• The Lemon Sisters (1990)
• Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990)
• A Rage in Harlem (1991)
• Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991)
• Love Crimes (1992)
• Sarafina (1992)
• Bob Roberts (1992)
• Just Another Girl on the I.R.T (1993)
• The Night We Never Met (1993)
• Into the West (1993)
• Mother's Boys (1994)
• The Crow (1994)
• Fresh (1994)
• Pulp Fiction (1994)
• Clerks (1994)
• Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
• Pret-a-Porter (1994)
• Fresa y Chocolate (1995)
• Zire Darakhatan Zeyton (1995)
• The Road Killers (1995)
• Exotica (1995)
• Muriel's Wedding (1995)
• Priest (1995)
• A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995)
• The Glass Shield (1995)
• The Crude Oasis (1995)
• Kids (1995)
• Country Life (1995)
• Lie Down with Dogs (1995)
• Unzipped (1995)
• The Innocent (1995)
• A Month by the Lake (1995)
• Blue in the Face (1995)
• Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
• The Crossing Guard (1995)
• Two Bits (1995)
• Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)
• Georgia (1995)
• Halloween The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
• Cry the Beloved Country (1995)
• Four Rooms (1995)
• The Journey of August King (1996)
• From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
• Restoration (1996)
• Beautiful Girls (1996)
• Hellraiser Bloodline (1996)
• Flirting with Disaster (1996)
• Jane Eyre (1996)
• Captives (1996)
• The Pallbearer (1996)
• Of Love and Shadows (1996)
• Loaded (1996)
• Emma (1996)
• Basquiat (1996)
• The Crow City (1996)
• The English Patient (1996)
• Citizen Ruth (1996)
• Everyone Says I Love You (1997)
• Albino Alligator (1997)
• Unhook the Stars (1997)
• The Substance of Fire (1997)
• Cosi (1997)
• Brassed Off (1997)
• Addicted to Love (1997)
• Cop Land (1997)
• Mimic (1997)
• The Wings of the Dove (1997)
• Welcome to Sarajevo (1997)
• Scream 2 (1997)
• Jackie Brown (1997)
• Good Will Hunting (1998)
• Phantoms (1998)
• Senseless (1998)
• Wide Awake (1998)
• A Price Above Rubies (1998)
• Ride (1998)
• Since You've Been Gone (1998)
• Sliding Doors (1998)
• 54 (1998)
• Rounders (1998)
• The Mighty (1998)
• Velvet Goldmine (1998)
• She's All That (1999)
• B. Monkey (1999)
• Playing by Heart (1999)
• Happy Texas (1999)
• An Ideal Husband (1999)
• My Life So Far (1999)
• Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999)
• The Cider House Rules (1999)
• Music of the Heart (1999)
• Mansfield Park (1999)
• Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000)
• Holy Smoke (2000)
• Committed (2000)
• Love's Labour's Lost (2000)
• The Yards (2000)
• Hellraiser Inferno (2000)
• Malena (2000)
• Bounce (2000)
• Chocolat (2001)
• Get Over It (2001)
• The Others (2001)
• On the Line (2001)
• Daddy and Them (2001)
• Iris (2001)
• Kate and Leopold (2001)
• The Shipping News (2002)
• Stolen Summer (2002)
• Tadpole (2002)
• The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)
• The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina (2002)
• Undisputed (2002)
• Full Frontal (2002)
• Waking Up in Reno (2002)
• Frida (2002)
• Naqoyqatsi (2002)
• Cypher (2002)
• Gangs of New York (2002)
• Chicago (2003)
• The Hours (2003)
• Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2003)
• View from the Top (2003)
• The Battle of Shaker Heights (2003)
• The Human Stain (2003)
• Duplex (2003)
• Master and Commander The Far Side of the World (2003)
• Cold Mountain (2003)
• My Baby's Daddy (2004)
• Dirty Dancing Havana Nights (2004)
• Jersey Girl (2004)
• Shall We Dance (2004)
• Dracula III: Legacy (2005)
• Bridget Jones the Edge of Reason (2005)
• Hostage (2005)
• Cinderella Man (2005)
• The Great Raid (2005)
• An Unfinished Life (2005)
• Underclassman (2005)
• Proof (2005)
• Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys (2005)
• Deep Blue (2005)
• Sin City (2005)
• Hellraiser: Deader (2005)
• An Unfinished Life (2005)
• Tsotsi (2005)
• Derailed (2005)
• Kinky Boots (2005)
• Scary Movie 4 (2006)
• Hollywoodland (2006)
• Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew (2006)
• Feast (2006)
• The Hoax (2006)

External links

• Official site
• Ian G Mason, New Statesman, 11 October 2004, "When Harvey met Mickey"
• Template:Imdb company