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UPDATE 5:45 PM: Ron Burkle and Harvey Weinstein just issued this joint statement in response to Disney insiders telling the media (including Deadline) that the Miramax deal with them is “dead”:
“The Weinstein Brothers, The Weinstein Company and Ron Burkle are all working towards a deal to purchase and operate Miramax. The parties continue to work diligently towards an agreement.”
3:15 PM: 
A report in the Los Angeles Times just pronounced the deal dead for Ron Burkle to buy Miramax from Disney and have Harvey and Bob Weinstein run it. The paper cites multiple sources who said the deal fell apart in the final stages over money. However, it is premature to throw dirt on the coffin. A Weinstein insider just told me the deal is not dead. And I have other sources who described talks are tense right now, but not over. They say this has been a study in leverage, with Disney wanting to squeeze every last dollar out of Burkle for the library. The studio believed it had the upper hand because Harvey badly wanted to announce its completion during the Cannes Film Festival, specifically during Weinstein’s beachfront bash last Saturday. The sources tell me that Disney has now seized on the strategy of holding the Miramax name hostage, which was a sentimental draw for the Weinstein bros in the first place.
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I don’t see Disney letting this deal go. Sure they’ll try to squeeze what they can out of it, but they’re not stupid.
Any student of recent movie history will tell you that the relationship between Burkle and the Weinsteins will end in litigation and metaphorical corporate bloodshed, and won’t be able to do much with Miramax. The folks running Disney know that too, and they’re going to play for as much as they can, but ultimately they let the Weinsteins get their baby back.
Once must conider the facts;
harvey and bob have no intentions of returning any kind of ROI to Burkle they never do – case in point; matt and ben , saul zaentz, kevin smith, goldman sachs – anyone who has invested with them. Disney does NOT need the money or the tzuris. keep your money and let the library slowly kaching away – Disney is a blue chip stock – so is the library – the minute harvey steels it – he will hold a FAT press conference and crowe that its now in better hands – BS – hold on to it.
If Disney wants to see the library they financed and supported and distributed be sold at every 7-11 and Bob’s Big Boy – then this is the way to go. Have some integrity and do not sell this back!
Harvey,
If you want to start making good films again then good luck.
Thank you.
P.S. Sweet Pix
So, you are trusting a Weinstein insider. Really? C’mon.
Yeah, a Weinstein insider also said they still have the rights to Sin City 2.
And yes, Harvey does need a shave.
I love when you guys judge other news sources. We know you’re great. Stop telling us.
Weinsteins had an exclusive. No signed agreement resulted. Presumably Disney developed little faith that a signed agreement, or an actual sale, was likely to result in the near future with Weinstein. So Disney ended the exclusive. Now Weinstein is in the same boat with any other suitor. So its not “dead” – of course not. It’s just not very likely.
hmmm maybe Disney finally woke up and realized it’s selling the 2nd most valuable brnd in the film business….
in 10 years it will be referred to as the one that Disney gave away.
what exactly do you think is valuable? the library, sure, but the value is finite, and declining; the name/trademarks? i dont think a single ticket or DVD has ever been sold because a film was released on the Miramax label; the brothers? well, if they still had it, they’d be rocking it at TWC, which they are decidedly not. Disney’s ask is about $300M too high, and they may get lucky and sell way too high because Harvey needs to feed his ego and Burkle is looking for a cool ticket. The library isnt worth more than $300M, and the name doesnt have much economic value
You would think that Ron Burkle would have learned to stay away from egotistical money-losing Hollywood has beens after the go-around with Mike Ovitz and AMG. But I guess if you have that much money, letting Harvey burn through some of it just for fun, isn’t really a big deal.
The sources tell me that Disney has now seized on the strategy of holding the Miramax name hostage, which was a sentimental draw for the Weinstein bros in the first place.”
The draw was so sentimental that, in the divorce from Disney, they took with them the much more profitable Dimension label, leaving behind the Miramax brand.
The longer Disney keeps trying to milk this sale the more they seem like a company that needs the money more than they say they do.
How great would it be if Michael Eisner came in and provided the gap money they need to close the deal? That’s what Harvey and Bob seem to want back, really: those key years in the mid 90′s after the Disney sale but before the international tentpole market steamrolled the specialty business.
The international tentpole market didn’t steamroll anything.
Greedy indie film producers milking bloated budgets of films no one wanted to see, bankrolled by hedgefund loonies who were printing money, cratered themselves and the whole bleeding indie film world with them.
You could look it up.
I don’t really see why Disney’s the bad guy here. Since Bob and Harv left them with a bunch of shitty over-priced bombs, it’s only fair that they get compensated for those losses. It’s like when the company got attacked for not wanting to do a Star Wars-type deal with Pixar where they only get 10% of the profits instead of at least 50%. Of *course* no self-respecting conglomerate is going to want to dick itself out of that kind of profit margin. And Miramaxe isn’t going to save anyone at this point, even if Harvey does buy it, so they might as well get a good bit for it.
Not in a million years… that’s not a gap. It’s a gorge.
I hope they let Harvey WHINEstein twist in the wind like he’s done to so many others. The guy’s a prick….nuff said.
When faced with a con man who keeps asking for more money – have the sense to walk away, and cut your losses.
You can start a new studio – name it after your parents – and put all that money into producing actual films, instead of paying it all to exec’s salaries.
This is about egos, not money. The Weinsteins sold Miramax for (relative) pennies back then. Disney has profited greatly from it since, and stands to profit greatly again in selling it. Disney could dump it for (relatively) nothing and still make a huge profit. But that’s not what Disney does. They bludgeon a stone over and over again until it bleeds – blood red or money green, they don’t care just so it bleeds.
Disney is playing from the Weinstein (all studios’?) playbook: don’t let them have the pleasure of announcing anything positive when it suits them, make them suffer. I have no axe to grind with the Weinsteins, though Harv is known to be a first-class dickhead. Disney is doing the exact same thing Harvey used to do, but they have the smarts to not be [publicly] arrogant about it, as was Harvey’s way. As much as I don’t like him, seeing Harvey grovel like this is… embarrassing. Family name or not.
Karma’s a bitch, eh Harv?
My dad is thinking about buying it for me so Disney put B on hold, I wanted the ‘other’ one but what do you do?
My dad says he’s going to hedge his investment by shorting the shit out of it, not sure what that means but it sounds good to me.
if burkle/winstein get it, do food prices @ the supermarket go up?
Sounds like Disney has their sights set on the guys that are willing to pay in cash rather than tortured negotiations over a half-cash half I.O.U. plan from the Weinsteins. Seems that it was only a few months ago that there was talk of the Weinstein Group going bankrupt, so it is odd that they are on a shopping spree.
Who’s that you see on Oxygen (and I’m not talking network) why that’s Bob Berney holding his breath for the deal to close. See, the deal was that Berney would quit his job, and fly to Cannes where he would announce his association with the new Miramax. Only those of us in Cannes who saw him (lurking about) know that he’s literally tossed everything in hopes that this deal closes.
Karma Bob B. You’ve taken far too much credit for what you haven’t done, and distanced yourself too quickly from your failures (mainly all having to do with release date choices, and overspending on marketing campaigns). Now, you’re on ice. And I can’t say anyone is crying over it.
onewhoknows
“Harvey calling for Sam [Gores].”
“Harvey … and Harvey is with… .”
“He’ll know.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t and you’ll have to let me know.”
“Harvey Weinstein.”
“Yes, OK. And Mr. Weinstein is with…?”
“[pause] Umm, you’er kidding right?”
“I’m sorry, please hold…. OK. I’m back. Now, Mr. Weinstein is calling from what company?”
“Oh come on, Harvey Weinstein, of Miramax fame. Are you an idiot?”
“I’m sorry, you are confusing me. Mr. Gores owns Miramax. I am not aware of a Mr. Weinstein on our staff. I’ve got to run, but do please call back once you have things straightened out on your end, and I’ll be happy to include your call on Mr. Gores’ call sheet. [click]“
Sentimentality should have nothing to do with this. You hear people say, “Disney ought to give the Brothers their name back,” as if the Weinsteins hadn’t sold it to Disney fair and square, pocketing millions. Perhaps if the Weinsteins hadn’t wrecked the company they named after themselves, they wouldn’t need to run back to the name they derived from their mother and father.
Disney knows the longer they can hold out the more some how the Weinstiens will find a way to reclaim miramax that plus fear if the brothers do have miramax back they could wind up once again being a rival to Disney . though think Disney wants what it can to help pay for the deal for Marvel . for the Weinsteins are showing to be sharks out for blood they want their old company back and are willing to hold out long enough for Disney to finaly just say the heck with it take Mirmax back and be gone.
Bob Iger won’t get as much money as he wants; that’s a given. The highest amount bid will come from the snotty Weinsteins & Burkle. It’s just a matter of how much Disney wants to screw them. I hope Havey enjoys the experience, considering he’s done it to so many others.
May the stress drive Harvey & Bob to new heights of anger & bile. I also hope the Weinsteins get Miramax after many months of fighting, and then there’s another high-stress blood bath among the winners. It would be the most delightful thing imaginable, especially if it all made its way into a full season story-arc on ENTOURAGE.
Demoncat, how exactly will getting Miramax back vault TWC into direct competition with Disney? Revenues from the catalog? the name? remake rights? I dont see injecting adding a catalog of declining commercial value layering a ton of debt and an pld sentimental name will breathe fiscally viable life iinto the near dead TWC.