The Weinstein Company

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The Weinstein Company

logo
legal form LLC
founding 2005
resolution 2018
Reason for dissolution insolvency
Seat New York City
management Bob Weinstein
Number of employees 150
Branch Film production company
Website www.weinsteinco.com
Status: February 26, 2018

The Weinstein Company (also Weinstein Co. or TWC for short ) was an independent American film production company ( independent studio ) founded in October 2005 by the brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein and headquartered in New York City .

history

Company development and re-establishment in 2005

The Weinstein brothers founded the independent studio Miramax Films in 1979 and its genre sub-label Dimension Films in 1993 (specializing in horror, thriller and action films). After Miramax had developed into one of the world's most successful film companies (distribution within the USA, trade in film rights worldwide), The Walt Disney Company bought the Weinstein Miramax in 1993 for 70 million US dollars.

The Weinsteins remained loyal to their company even after the sale and continued to run Miramax until 2005. During this time, the Weinsteins had a free hand in their company, but the Disney Group retained a right of veto over which it could determine what would be published. After disagreements arose due to such vetoes from Disney, among other things, the Weinsteins were offered Miramax for repurchase, as contractually stipulated. Since they had failed to agree on a fixed repurchase price, Miramax was valued according to its market value.

The buyback price (US $ 2 billion) far exceeded the Weinsteins' financial resources. Therefore, Disney used the contractually agreed option on March 30, 2005 to dissolve the Weinsteins' contracts after twelve years. Due to the agreement reached, both brothers left their company in September 2005. Disney kept the total of 550 Miramax films, but left them with ongoing film productions, as well as Dimension Films and a transfer fee of $ 140 million. With this seed capital in film rights and ongoing productions, the Weinsteins founded their new film company on October 1, 2005, which is now simply called The Weinstein Company .

On October 8, 2017, company co-founder Harvey Weinstein was dismissed on charges of sexual harassment.

insolvency

On February 26, 2018, the company announced bankruptcy . The bankruptcy petition was filed in Delaware about three weeks later . All employees were also released from their confidentiality agreements with the company.

Companies

Productions

The first productions under the new Weinstein label are the November 2005 thriller Derailed (with Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen ), the film Transamerica (with Felicity Huffman ), the computer-animated film Hoodwinked (The Little Red Riding Hood Conspiracy) and the comedy Mord und Margaritas (with Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear ). With Dimension Films , The Weinstein Company already owns a well-established label that draws attention primarily with horror / thriller film series. The label under which Scream - Schrei! is also responsible for Scary Movie and Sin City . Another mainstay are the direct-to-video releases of the Hellraiser , Mimic , The Prophecy and Wes Craven presents Dracula film series . Distributed by the Weinstein Company, Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2006 . The film documents the time after the controversial statement by Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines on March 10, 2003 in London about George W. Bush as a reaction to the American invasion of Iraq until 2006. In the summer of 2006 the Weinstein Company bought Glen A. Larson sells the rights to the 80s TV series Knight Rider for a cinema adaptation. In January 2012 Weinstein argued with Relativity Media about the film rights to The Crow .

people

The company can already boast some well-known names who were more or less involved in the company. Robert Redford acted as advisor for the studio . Notable directors for the production company included Kevin Smith , Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino .

distribution

North America

The Weinstein Company has its own cinema distribution network in the United States.

Home entertainment

For the North American home entertainment market, Weinstein Co. signed an agreement in December 2005 with Genius Products ( Wellspring Media , Sundance Home Entertainment ). The details will be worked out in the first quarter of 2006, Weinstein Co. will take a 70 percent stake in Genius Products, which will in future evaluate all productions by Weinstein and Dimension.

Remaining areas

Outside of North America, the cooperation with Disney's foreign distributor Buena Vista International (BVI) remained for the time being. As before, BVI was able to decide whether a film should be distributed or whether it should be dispensed with and thus released for free sale to local sales companies. If BVI took over a film, it was usually also evaluated via Buena Vista Home Entertainment .

From April 2007, the films by The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films were brought to cinemas in German-speaking countries by Senator Film Verleih and then offered and distributed on DVD via Senator Home Entertainment .

Weinstein films

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/26/business/weinstein-bankruptcy-deal.html
  2. ↑ Mia Galuppo, Pamela McClintock: Harvey Weinstein Terminated From Weinstein Company . The Hollywood Reporter . October 8, 2017.
  3. ^ Production company: Weinstein Company announces bankruptcy. In: Zeit Online. February 26, 2018, accessed February 26, 2018 .
  4. ^ Harvey Weinstein: Weinstein Company files for bankruptcy. In: Zeit Online. March 20, 2018, accessed March 20, 2018 .
  5. ↑ The Crow Lawsuit Settled. Do We Still Want Another Movie?

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