Mike70
03-Oct-2009, 10:59 PM
disney has announced that miramax will be seriously downsized. the staff is going to be cut from 70 to 20 and their movie orders are going to be reduced to just 3 a year.
wow, how the mighty have fallen low. then again, miramax's latest films haven't exactly lived up to what the studio used to put out.
Today’s announcement that Disney Studios will be significantly downsizing its indie division Miramax came as little surprise to those in Hollywood. The mini-major that had once been the gorilla of the independent film business under the tutelage of Harvey and Bob Weinstein has been seen as the next likely target for Disney CEO Bob Iger, who surprised everyone last month with the shock firing of studio chief Dick Cook. Now Miramax, which has been run by president Daniel Battsek for the last four years, will only release three films a year, as opposed to the 6-8 mandated for the division previously. The biggest hit to the industry will come from the loss of jobs. Disney plans to lay off as many as 50 people of Miramax’s 70-person staff by January. It’s not clear what divisions those will come from but considering Disney intends to market and distribute Miramax’s few annual releases through its parent company, the majority of the losses are likely to come from those two departments. The indie business has been suffering for some time and the loss of jobs are unlikely to be absorbed in this shrinking business.
wow, how the mighty have fallen low. then again, miramax's latest films haven't exactly lived up to what the studio used to put out.
Today’s announcement that Disney Studios will be significantly downsizing its indie division Miramax came as little surprise to those in Hollywood. The mini-major that had once been the gorilla of the independent film business under the tutelage of Harvey and Bob Weinstein has been seen as the next likely target for Disney CEO Bob Iger, who surprised everyone last month with the shock firing of studio chief Dick Cook. Now Miramax, which has been run by president Daniel Battsek for the last four years, will only release three films a year, as opposed to the 6-8 mandated for the division previously. The biggest hit to the industry will come from the loss of jobs. Disney plans to lay off as many as 50 people of Miramax’s 70-person staff by January. It’s not clear what divisions those will come from but considering Disney intends to market and distribute Miramax’s few annual releases through its parent company, the majority of the losses are likely to come from those two departments. The indie business has been suffering for some time and the loss of jobs are unlikely to be absorbed in this shrinking business.