Miramax Films

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Miramax Films is a American motion picture distribution and production company. It was headquartered in New York, New York before being bought out by The Walt Disney Company.

It was created by the brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein in Buffalo, New York in 1979. The name comes from combining the first names of their parents Max and Miriam. The company was created to distribute independent films which the major studios didn't think were worth distributing.

The company's first success came when the Weinsteins teamed up with British producer Martin Lewis. They got the US rights to two concert films of benefit shows for human rights organization Amnesty International. The Weinsteins worked with Lewis to combine the two films into one film. The film The Secret Policeman's Other Ball was a successful release for Miramax in the summer of 1982.

Among the company's most well known films as distributors were The Crying Game, sex, lies, and videotape, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! and Scandal. The company also made films such as Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare In Love

Miramax also produced many films which made a lot of money. The company became one of the leaders of the independent film revolution of the 1990s. It produced or distributed seven films that made more than $100 million at the box office. Its most successful film, Chicago, earned more than $300 million[1].

In 1993, The Walt Disney Company bought Miramax for $70 million. Harvey and Bob Weinstein ran Miramax until they left the company on September 30, 2005. The Weinstein brothers ran Miramax seperately of other Disney companies. However, Disney had the final say on what Miramax could release.

On March 30, 2005, Disney and the Weinsteins said that they would not renew their contract when their current one expired at the end of September 2005. Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group took control of Miramax, which will have a smaller annual production budget. The Weinsteins started a new film production company titled The Weinstein Company and took the Dimension Films label with them. The Miramax name stayed with the film studio owned by Disney. It is currently run by Daniel Battsek.

Miramax also has a family films division, Miramax Family Films.

Miramax is one of the Big Ten movie studios.

[edit] Selected list of Miramax films

The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (1982)
Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991)
Love Crimes (1992)
Reservoir Dogs (1992) (distributor)
Into the West (1993)
The Crow (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Clerks (1994)
Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
Halloween The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Jane Eyre (1996)
The Crow: City of Angels (1996)
The English Patient (1996)
Cop Land (1997)
Mimic (1997)
Jackie Brown (1997)
Good Will Hunting (1998)
Phantoms (1998)
54 (1998)
Air Bud: Golden Receiver (1998) (distributor, theatrical version, released on home video by Disney)
Rounders (1998)
Shakespeare in Love (1998, with Universal Pictures)
She's All That (1999)
The Cider House Rules (1999)
Princess Mononoke (1999) (English dub, distributor)
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999, with Paramount Pictures)
A Hard Day's Night (2000 theatrical reissue of 1964 film)
Chocolat (2001)
Bridget Jones's Diary (2001, with Universal Pictures)
Spy Kids (2001)
Kate and Leopold (2001)
40 Days and 40 Nights (2002, with Universal Pictures)
The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)
Frida (2002)
Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002)
Gangs of New York (2002)
Chicago (2003)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2003)
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)
Kill Bill (2003)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003, with 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures)
Cold Mountain (2003)
Garden State (2004, with Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Shall We Dance (2004)
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004, with Universal Pictures)
Cinderella Man (2005, with Universal Pictures)
Scary Movie 4 (2006, with Dimension Films)
Hollywoodland (2006, with Focus Features)
Feast (2006, with Dimension Films)
Clerks II (2006)