Posted October 13, 200520 yr comment_3666262 From IMDB.com Harvey Weinstein engaged in budget manipulation while running Miramax that enabled him to "create the illusion of profits" at the company, while in reality it was losing millions, according to Edward Jay Epstein, writing in the online Slate magazine. According to Epstein, Disney had agreed to pay Harvey and brother Bob a performance bonus of 30-35 percent of their film profits, calculated each fiscal year and also to tie Miramax's budget to annual performance. However, to ensure a profitable year, Epstein claims, Harvey Weinstein shifted to future years films that he believed would lose money, many of which were released just this year -- the year of the Weinsteins departure -- with losses expected to exceed $120 million. "And to add insult to injury," Epstein writes, "the Weinsteins' exit package, reported to be between $130 and $140 million, was partially based on what turned out to be Miramax's phantom profits in prior fiscal years." If this is true, it's brilliant. They knew they were being pushed out so they saved up a stockpile of crap movies the studio would be forced to release or eat after they left. Has anyone compiled a list of all the movies Miramax had under wraps?
October 22, 200520 yr comment_3734369 Hostage - $34 million, production budget $75 mil The Great Raid - $10 mil, production budget of $80 mil An Unfinished Life - $8.5 mil, production $30 mil Bride and Prejudice - $6.5 mil, production $7 mil Proof - $6 mil, $20 mil production, still clawing to life in theaters Underclassman - $5.5 mil, production budget $25 mil Those were the movies Disney was forced to dump this year under the Miramax banner, in terms of anything beyond limited release. Who knows what they could still have sitting on the shelf.
October 26, 200520 yr comment_3768161 Hostage only made 34 million? That's shame, it's actually a pretty good action flick.
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