Case Study: Media Institutions

MIRAMAX

Background & History

The company was originally created in order to distribute independent films which were deemed commercially inviable at the major studios.

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.

Owners & main people

Founded by the brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein in Buffalo, New York in 1979, and named by combining the first names of their parents Max and Miriam.

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.
After extensive negotiations and much media and industry speculation, on March 30, 2005, Disney and the Weinsteins announced that they would not renew their contractual relationship when their existing agreements expired at the end of September 2005. 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.

Key people and executives for Miramax Film Corp.

President: Daniel Battsek
EVP Business Affairs: Michael Luisi
SVP Production, International Development, and Acquisitions: Kristin Jones

Finances, business ventures and incomes

Miramax 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. The company was also exceptionally successful in securing Academy Award nominations for its releases and a large number of the nominations resulted in Oscar wins.
In 1993 Miramax was purchased for $70 million by The Walt Disney Company

Media Productions- Output

The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (1982)
Playing for Keeps (1986) (produced by Miramax but distributed by Universal Pictures)
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, with Paramount Pictures)
Reservoir Dogs (1992) (distributor)
Just Another Girl on the I.R.T (1993)
The Night We Never Met (1993)
Into the West (1993)
Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1993) (distributor)
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)
The Thief and the Cobbler (1995) (theatrically known as Arabian Knight) (distributor)
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 of Angels (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)
Cop Land (1997)
Mimic (1997)
The Wings of the Dove (1997)
Welcome to Sarajevo (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, with Paramount Pictures)
54 (1998)
Air Bud: Golden Receiver (1998) (distributor, theatrical version, released on home video by Disney)
Rounders (1998)
The Mighty (1998)
Velvet Goldmine (1998)
Shakespeare in Love (1998, with Universal Pictures)
She's All That (1999)
B. Monkey (1999)
Playing by Heart (1999)
Happy Texas (1999)
An Ideal Husband (1999)
My Life So Far (1999)
The Cider House Rules (1999)
Music of the Heart (1999)
Mansfield Park (1999)
Princess Mononoke (1999) (English dub, distributor)
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999, with Paramount Pictures)
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)
Bridget Jones's Diary (2001, with Universal Pictures)
On the Line (2001)
Spy Kids (2001)
Daddy and Them (2001)
Iris (2001)
Kate and Leopold (2001)
40 Days and 40 Nights (2002, with Universal Pictures)
The Shipping News (2002)
Stolen Summer (2002)
Tadpole (2002)
The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)
The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina (2002) (distributor, direct-to-video)
Undisputed (2002)
Full Frontal (2002)
Waking Up in Reno (2002)
Frida (2002)
Naqoyqatsi (2002)
Cypher (2002)
Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002)
Pokémon 4Ever (2002) (English dub, distributor)
Pinocchio (2002) (English dub, distributor)
Gangs of New York (2002)
Chicago (2003)
The Hours (2002, with Paramount Pictures)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2003)
View from the Top (2003)
The Battle of Shaker Heights (2003)
The Human Stain (2003)
Pokémon Heroes (2003) (English dub, distributor)
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)
Duplex (2003)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003, with 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures)
Cold Mountain (2003)
My Baby's Daddy (2004)
Pokémon: Jirachi Wishmaker (2004) (English dub, distributor, direct-to-video)
Dirty Dancing Havana Nights (2004)
Paper Clips (2004) (distributor)
Jersey Girl (2004)
Garden State (2004, with Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Shall We Dance (2004)
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004, with Universal Pictures)
Dracula III: Legacy (2005)
Hostage (2005)
Cinderella Man (2005, with Universal Pictures)
The Great Raid (2005)
An Unfinished Life (2005)
Underclassman (2005)
Proof (2005)
Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys (2005) (English dub, distributor, direct-to-video)
Deep Blue (2005) (distributor)
Hellraiser: Deader (2005)
Tsotsi (2005)
Derailed (2005, with The Weinstein Company)
Kinky Boots (2005)
Scary Movie 4 (2006, with Dimension Films)
Hollywoodland (2006, with Focus Features)
Feast (2006, with Dimension Films)
The Hoax (2006)

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.
Among the company's breakthrough films as distributors were The Crying Game, sex, lies, and videotape, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! and Scandal. The company also made film such as Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare In Love.
In addition to those successes, Miramax acquired and/or produced many films which did extraordinarily well financially and the company became one of the leaders of the independent film revolution of the 1990s.

Critisms:

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

Miramax Family Films is a kids division of Miramax Films. By now, these current notable Miramax Family Films productions are:
My Scene Goes Hollywood: The Movie (2005)
In Search of Santa (2004)

Past Miramax Family Films productions:
How the Toys Saved Christmas (1997)
Gordy (1995)
The Thief and the Cobbler (1995)
Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1992)
Into the West (1992)
Freddie as F.R.O.7 (1992)
The Magic Riddle (1991)
The Magic Snowman (1987

Recent developments including pictures/logos etc.