Thursday, January 28, 2010

Miramax RIP

Industry website The Wrap reports that Disney is closing down it's Miramax subsidiary for good, with the loss of 80 jobs in the process.

Founded by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the studio scored success with 'indie' films such as Clerks, The English Patient and, most famously, Pulp Fiction.

Bob and Harvey have of course long since left to form The Weinstein Company and the studio lost a lot of it's credibility and appeal with their departure. Nonetheless the news comes as a surprise and a sense of sadness that one of the most famous names in modern cinema is no more.

Kevin Smith, who had a number of films distributed and/or financed by Miramax, writes :-

"I was never a brand-name whore in my life, except when it came to indie film. And from the moment I knew I wanted to be in film, there was one label I wanted on my ass: Miramax.

What Harvey and Bob built from scratch resembled an old studio star-factory; but this time, the stars were the filmmakers. It was a gang (of New York), and like any good gang, it was dripping with street cred. Just being a part of that gang sent a message: I run with rebels.

But Miramax wasn't just a bad-boy clubhouse, it was a 20th century Olympus: throw a can of Diet Coke and you hit a modern-day deity. And for one brief, shining moment, it was an age of magic and wonders.

I'm crushed to see it pass into history, because I owe everything I have to Miramax. Without them, I'd still be a New Jersey convenience store register jockey. In practice, not just in my head."

No comments: