Our Idea to Return Miramax’s Name Gains Support

By: Roger Friedman   //   Tuesday November 3, 2009

More outlets are joining our call from October 5th: Disney should give back the Miramax name to the Weinstein brothers.

Over the weekend came news that Disney followed through with its decision from a month ago. Miramax is no longer a thriving New York indie. It’s a catalog company with a few releases left to distribute. Daniel Battsek, who ran the company ably enough to garner a Best Picture win with “No Country for Old Men,” has stepped down.

I raised this issue in a column here on October 5th: that a family-oriented company like Disney should return a family name like Miramax to its originators. Miramax was named for Miriam and Max Weinstein, parents of Bob and Harvey.

Today a blog that shall not be named or linked to restated my original thesis (of course, without credit). And even though they sampled from us, much like Jay-Z does from old R&B records, it’s still a sound idea.

Disney loses nothing by returning the Miramax name. The movies released by a post-Weinstein Miramax can simply be relabeled as Disney Home Video releases. No one will care, and there aren’t that many of them. For the Weinsteins, it’s a matter of family.

As I wrote in this column a month ago, Disney chief Robert Iger is just the sort of magnanimous fellow to make this happen. As for those who take up our causes, a little credit would go a long way toward peace in the Internet valley.

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Steven Spielberg Has Secret Screening of Controversial Disney Doc

By: Roger Friedman   //   Monday October 12, 2009

The word in Hollywood is that Steven Spielberg recently had a secret screening of a controversial new documentary about Disney animation.

We saw “Waking Sleeping Beauty” yesterday at the Hamptons International Film Festival, and all I can say is, I know why Spielberg was curious. He’s in it. So are some of the people he invited over to watch it with him, including Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Don Hahn’s extraordinary film (co-produced with former Disney cartoon chief Peter Schneider) tells the story of Disney’s animation division for its decade of unparalleled modern success: from 1984 to 1994, or, roughly, from “The Little Mermaid” through “The Lion King.” Veteran entertainment journalist Patrick Pacheco has fashioned this story into a compelling narrative.

What’s interesting about all this is that the film details all the fighting in the executive suites at Disney among Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the late Frank Wells (an admired peacemaker), and Roy Disney. All of these feuds are still active even though Eisner and Katzenberg are gone, Wells is dead, and Disney is said to be quite ill.

What you don’t want to miss: Disney and Eisner’s catfight at Wells’s memorial service. It’s not to be believed.

Basically Hahn shows how all these guys competed for publicity and attention. It’s all about ego.

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It’s Time for Disney to Give Back the Miramax Name

By: Roger Friedman   //   Monday October 5, 2009

There was sad news last Friday for the indie film world. Disney is downsizing the new, or faux, Miramax. This is the post-Weinstein Miramax run by the very popular and talented Daniel Battsek since the Weinsteins left to start their own company four years ago.

The plan, according to reports in THR and elsewhere, is for Miramax to be stripped down to nothing but three releases a year. Battsek, who brought plenty of good films into the tent, is staying with the company. But most everyone else is leaving. It’s truly a shame, but it’s also probably a function of Dreamworks coming to Disney. If the Spielberg studio had wound up at Universal, Focus might be the mini that was folded.

So what to do now? It seems like a good time for Disney to give the Miramax name back to the Weinsteins. Either use it or lose it, you know. Miramax is named for the Weinstein parents Miriam and Max. It has nothing to do with Disney. Even now, the Miramax website features the ton of videos left behind by the Weinsteins including two Best Picture winners (”Chicago,” “The English Patient”) and a raft of Oscar nominees (from “Good Will Hunting” to “The Cider House Rules,” “Pulp Fiction,” “In the Bedroom,” “Cinema Paradiso,” etc).

Of course there was a lot of enmity between the Weinsteins and Disney during their divorce. But that was in the day of Michael Eisner. Disney’s Bob Iger is a different person, and the incoming new chief Rich Ross has no history with them. Keeping Miramax would be similar to Disney losing their Buena Vista label. They’d be fighting for it forever.

The Weinsteins haven’t said anything (at least not to me) but if Disney is really whittling the name down to nothing, this would seem like a good time to return it. Disney still keeps all the movies made by Harvey and Bob, and by Daniel. But a legacy is returned in the process. For a company based on old fashioned values, this would be Disney’s ultimate act of family friendliness.

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