Behind the Name: Miramax Films

30 June 2008

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Miramax Films is a film production and distribution company that was set up by producer siblings Harvey and Bob Weinstein in 1979.

Named after their parents Max and Miriam the company was created to distribute and promote independent movies that were being overlooked by the major studios of the eighties.

The company enjoyed early success when they teamed up with British producer Martin Lewis to work on a string of benefit shows for human rights organization Amnesty International.

The late eighties brought success with sex, lies and videotape, a film which shot director Steven Soderbergh to fame, before going on to distribute multi-Acadmey Award nominated film My Left Foot, for which Daniel Day Lewis won the Best Actor Oscar.

The independent film revolution of the nineties was led by Miramax as they produced or distributed the likes of Pulp Fiction, Trainspotting and Heavenly Creatures.

In 1993 The Walt Disney Company brought Miramax for $70 million but the Weinstein brothers continued to run the company separate from other Disney affiliates as they backed filmmakers like Tarantino with his movies reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown.

But as well as independent film Miramax has enjoyed a more mainstream success with the likes of Shakespeare in Love and Chicago both which enjoyed major financial success as well as success at the Oscars.

The company was also successful when it came to the Oscars with both Chicago and Shakespeare in Love other major winners for the company include The English Patient and more recently No Country For Old Men and The Queen.

Seven of it's movies have enjoyed major box office success grossing over $100 million it's most successful title to date is musical Chicago, starring Catherine Zeta Jones, Richard Gere and Renee Zellweger which grossed over $300 million and won Best Picture in 2003.

However behind the scenes things were not well between the Weinsteins and Disney as Disney still had the final say over what Miramax could release.

After much speculation in 2005 Bob and Harvey Weinstein announced that they would not be renewing their contracts and left the company.

They went on to set up a film production company The Weinstein Company, and took the Dimension Films label with them.

However with Miramax under new leadership, run by Daniel Battsek, the company hasn't faltered as both No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood found major success this awards season with No Country For Old Men taking Best Picture at this year's Oscars.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

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