I received my last correspondence from Miramax publicity yesterday. Today, the company has effectively been shuttered, and it is, without question, the end of an era.
When things were streamlined for the brand back in October, I wrote a brief remembrance. But how ironic that, as the latest and greatest in independent cinema looks for distribution and attention in the snowy hills of Sundance, the studio that made the fest in some ways and, indeed, blazed the trail for independent cinema throughout the 1990s, finds itself closing up shop.
It was 21 years ago that Steven Soderbergh’s “sex, lies and videotape” put the fest on the map, waltzing into town with no hope for securing a deal and waltzing out under the Miramax umbrella that would eventually change first the business of indie film, and soon enough, the business of awards season. Chris Lee, in previewing the fest’s 25th anniversary last week, writes up the film’s impact at the Los Angeles Times.
Sharon Waxman, meanwhile, as linked in this morning’s round-up, toasts the company after this “slow death,” writing:
Over 31 years, the movie company that for most of its existence was led by founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein brought the public enduring stories that plumbed the depths of human emotion (“My Left Foot”) and pushed the boundaries of cultural barriers (“Reservoir Dogs”).
When we think of the movies that defined the latter part of the 20th century — the movies that mattered, that stories that hit pop culture like a hammer and left a dent — more often than not they came from Miramax.
“The Piano.” “Pulp Fiction.” “Sex, Lies and Videotape.” “Clerks.” “The English Patient.”
All too often, we may find ourselves saying: Why doesn’t Hollywood make those movies anymore?
Waxman’s book “Rebels on the Backlot” delves into the studio and the independent filmmaking scene of the 1990s.
Miramax was a defining figment of my formative film enthusiast years. We all recall the major titles, but I also remember the little delights I would stumble across at my local video store. Julian Schnabel’s “Basquiat,” for example, or Kevin Spacey’s “Albino Alligator.” The distributor was able to balance those smaller titles with the prestige fare of the awards season, as well as genre films like the “Scream” franchise or “The Crow.” No one does that with such focused intensity anymore.
It was Harvey Weinstein and brother Bob who caused this shift in the Hollywood status quo with their brand. And Harvey’s was a bombastic spirit when he was on the top of the mountain (earlier this week we featured one of his humorous correspondences with filmmaker Errol Morris, which more than makes the case for his passion and showmanship). At The Weinstein Company, things are a but a shadow of the past, while the Miramax brand lived on briefly enough to win one more Best Picture prize without them before slowly fading away as just another discontinued dependent.
The business of independent film will find a way to succeed once more, of that I am sure. It won’t be the business Miramax defined, it will be some new hybrid that finds a way to embrace alternative delivery methods. It is a much different time than the Weinstein-dominated 1990s, after all. But the memories live on.
Rest in peace, Miramax. You were good to us.
Comments
20 responses to “End of an era”
Whilst it my have metaphorically shuddered, it probably was shuttered.
-grammar police
Beat you to the fix.
I started seriously following the Oscar race in 2002, which was the first year I did my own awards. Over the first two years, six of my twelve best picture nominees were distributed at least partially by Miramax, including both winners (The Hours, Rabbit Proof Fence, and winner Chicago in 2002, and The Station Agent, Kill Bill vol. 1 and winner Cold Mountain in 2003). I knew things were going to change when the Weinsteins left, but I had no idea that the studio that had such an impact on my early love of cinema would crumble so quickly. RIP Miramax. You’ll be sorely missed.
Finke is reporting that the Weinsteins are looking to purchase the Miramax brand from Disney. I’m assuming this is because their Weinstein Co. brand is now associated with disappointment at the box office and at the podium. So Miramax may not be dead yet– just in suspended animation, perhaps?
beautiful
What does this mean for The Tempest? I believe it is one of the six films that has been indefinitely shelved. I suppose it’ll be picked up by someone, but I’m still worried that it’ll get a shoddy release.
[…] the indie Mecca of Sundance closes up shop for the year, industry watchers and movie fans are paying their respects to one-time indie powerhouse Miramax, which shut its offices in New York […]
What a sad news…
“Finke is reporting that the Weinsteins are looking to purchase the Miramax brand from Disney. I’m assuming this is because their Weinstein Co. brand is now associated with disappointment at the box office and at the podium. ”
Adam, there might actually be a deeper and more personal reason. ‘Miramax’ was named after their parents, after all. The purchase makes sense, I hope it comes through.
This is their legacy after all. And it was a great legacy indeed.
As important as their contibutions to the indipendent cinema are, their championing of foreign films should not be forgotten too.
Not every movie was great or even good. Oh, but so many of them were.
Shit, I hope the movies put in limbo by this don’t get buried.
It’s sad in the same way Carolco going away in the mid 90’s.
Just give them the name.
It’s not just the name that would be involved. It’s a brand, which means the library, which means the Weinsteins will never get it.
Love the shout-outs to Scream and The Crow, but also props for the Albino Alligator mention. I love that movie. Hell of a cast!
What a sad, terrible shame – it was the beginning of the end when the brothers sold to Disney — from the moment they arrived the squeeze started to get ride of them — what Miramax and the brothers did for independent cinema in the nineties will never be properly measured, they essentially gave us indy cinema and the many greats to come out of it — how sad.
Typo — sorry — get ride of them should be rid of them — figure it is obvious but someone will comment.
I’m glad this entry hasn’t been overrun with anti-Harvey bile. For as many mistakes he made with shelving projects for years, cutting directors visions, if it weren’t for him cinema wouldn’t be what it is now. We wouldn’t even be HERE discussing Oscars the way we did if he didn’t make it that way.
The Miramax stables also brought us a box office smash from a movie about a transexual (“The Crying Game”), perhaps the first genuine documentary hit (“Madonna: Truth or Dare”), best picture nominations out of foreign language movies (“Il Postino”), the careers of Peter Jackson (“Heavenly Creatures”), Pedro Almodovar (“Tie Me Up Tie Me Down”), PJ Hogan/Toni Collette (“Muriel’s Wedding”) and Quentin Tarantino while also helping develop the likes of Todd Haynes, Jane Campion, Woody Allen, Guillermo Del Toro and Robert Ridriguez.
And one of their movies, a personal fave of mine from the early ’90s, but one that is sadly forgotten “Just a Girl on the I.R.T.”
RIP
As much as I’ve enjoyed Miramax products over the years (Reservoir Dogs, Clerks, Pulp Fiction, Trainspotting, Chasing Amy, Good Will Hunting, Kill Bill Vols 1 and 2, Master and Commander, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood among other), I’ll always remember them for propelling Shakespeare in Love to the Best Picture Oscar and Chocolat to a Best Picture nomination with relentless marketing and advertising.
Goodbye Miramax. Thanks for “Scream”.
Zac, more money was spent on the campaign for “Saving Private Ryan” than “Shakespeare in Love”. There is not one single reason that anyone can lay forth that Harvey bought that Best Picture award. I still find it hilarious that people claim Harvey bought that nomination for “The Reader” and that it made it in only because it’s “a holocaust movie” and yet hate on “Saving Private Ryan” losing. Hypocrisy gone mad.
“Scream” is THE film that defined my youth. I’ve watched it over 150 times – no joke – and it spearheaded my obsession with film.