Disney Ends Alliance With Miramax

January 29th, 2010 - 8:39 pm ICT by GD  

By Ranjan Bhaduri
miramaxJan 29, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The largest media company of the world, Walt Disney Co. has decided to end its alliance with Miramax. The news has been confirmed by Disney. The six pictures being made by the studio are to be distributed, as per the latest news. This development is owing to a major restructuring, as Disney has said in its statement. Miramax became famous for popularizing foreign and art films and profiting from them. Its pictures that fetched big bucks include “Shakespeare in Love”, “The English Patient” and “Chicago”. After the Weinstein brothers left the studio, its situation worsened. Robert Iger, the CEO of the company has been busy restructuring the film operations of Disney that had been in doldrums for quite some time.

The industry insiders agree that Miramax did well when it operated as a standalone entity. The Weinstein brothers left Walt Disney after facing problems with former CEO Michael Eisner. Harvey Weinstein said in his statement that the studio was named after his parents. Disney acquired the company in 1993. As long as the Weinstein brothers were involved, the company proved to be successful. In fact the studio got more than 2000 Academy Award nominations during their stint. Chicago was the last movie released by the studio that did really good business and fetched an Oscar nomination for actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Among the Miramax pictures yet to be released, Last Night and The Debt deserve special mention. The fate of the other films hangs in balance. The LA office was shut down recently. Almost 80 people would have to lose their jobs due to this development.

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