Miramax may break from Disney

Looks like this isn't Disney's month... http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=491381

Anyone else wish we could just vote Eisner off the island and be done with it?

-Danny

Geez, Disney has been in the News alot in the past few weeks and almost all of it is bad news.

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Koaster King said:
Anyone else wish we could just vote Eisner off the island and be done with it?
-Danny

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Well, you can ... if your a 'DIS' stockholder!

I have already sent in my proxy ... and have hightlighted my Just say NO to Mikey! check box. And even though my ownership in the Disney Empire is but a 'drop in the ocean', it *still* counts!

My vote, if it does it's job, will cost the Disney Co. an estimated whopping $12m to buyout Mr. Eisner's contact. It doesn't expire until 2006, so ousting Mike before then will cost us, one way or another!

interesting that their stock is "dis" as that seems to be what everyone has been doing to disney here lately. :)

Well Swoosh, what exactly do you propose? If it'd been Cedar Fair or Six Flags that had a buyout bid, and two major breaks with, let's say food service and their insurance company, what would you be sayin? Disney's goin down and goin down hard. There's still a chance to save the ship, and its probably very much salvageable, but there's more ahead.

You create a giant that large based on what boils down to one giant marketing blitz, its gonna fall apart on you eventually. Disney deserves all the "dis"ing that it's getting. It (or at least Eisner) had this coming, and they're earning every last bash and fall they run into.

I for one am laughing - Disney may be essential, but they don't need to be the all-powerful do-no-wrong monopoly that they are. Just my feelings ... but that being said, I hope they make it through all this crap as an independant company; smaller, but independant.

Just Eisner. There's a lot of good, hard-working people are Disney that want it to be back at its highest peak in quality. They're arguably improving their film and motion picture quality over the past few years, but like the report said, Weinstein wasn't happy with Eisner. Still, a lot of people aren't happy with everything old Harvey does either. Disney isn't going down hard. Eisner didn't mind Pixar leaving. He probably won't fight for Miramax if he doesn't get along with Harvey. Disney *alone* was the highest-grossing movie studio of the year which didn't include Miramax in the numbers. Most of their theme parks have a huge attendance number over any competition. DVD sales from Pirates, Freaky Friday, Nemo, Treasure Planet, etc. were some of the highest of the year. ABC is still their biggest low point right now and the parade accident wasn't a bright spot this year in the least. Even though I've had some pretty blahworthy times at a couple CF parks, I wouldn't wish them to fail or find a failure or flaw to be laughable. They'll get through it. They did prior to the 90s without both Miramax and Pixar.

-Danny

The world economy is different now though, Danny. What worked in the 80s and in the 90s won't always work now. Without some serious re-evaluation in all the branches of the Disney empire (Movies, Parks, Animation, TV, Merchandise) nothing but a slow downward spiral will happen.

Well, like I mentioned, I think they did reevaluate their film and video division, which is why we're seeing some higher quality movies directly from Disney like Pirates, Freaky Friday, Haunted Mansion, Teacher's Pet, Lion King 1 1/2, 101 Dalmatians 2, Disney Treasures, etc. Lilo & Stitch made huge BO numbers last year and Brother Bear opened with one of the highest per-screen averages ever for a movie. Hand-drawn animation isn't dead, but they're definitely looking into the 3D stuff.

ABC needs the most attention and fast. But maybe that's why they're putting on the mega Millionaire week. Not exactly quality programming for extended periods of time. They still have Alias, 20/20, 8 Simple Rules, and some other random shows most people don't pay attention to. Cast members from The Practice and Life with Bonnie were switched around for this season. I guess they were trying and are trying though. They're trying to pump some great attractions into DCA and AK and some good things are going on with the other parks. Disneyland/Studios Paris isn't looking too hot, but Tokyo seems to be making good numbers.

Every major company has bad spots. Paramount Pictures didn't look too hot for Viacom in 2003, but the parks and CBS are on top of the game. Universal had some major issues with DVD in the past couple of years a lot of customers weren't too happy with and Hulk was a box office disappointment. We know Six Flags isn't perfect. Sony had the megabomb of Gigli on its hands. ;)

-Danny

I guess this puts the kibosh on seeing "Reservoir Dogs: The Ride" at any of Disney's parks...:(

This has actually been in the works for a while now.

I have a friend who has his flims done through the "Max" and has expressed his concern of the Mouse's control. Having the Mouse control Miramax even led to death threats against him and his fmaily about one of his flicks. Soon as the flick was picked up by another studio, the threats stopped.

This would be nothing but good for the Weinstein brothers and you'd be surprised how many peopel would follow them if they end up leaving and forming a new company if a buy-out won't happen.

You'd be surprised how many films alot of you enjoy through Miramax and it's sub-studios like Dimension Films.

Just wishing my friend best of luck on his new flick coming out from him and Miramax. Jersey Girl. Opening March 19th. Saw it at a private screening.. Go see it.. funny as hell..

I read somewhere Rob that this was the first year in like the past twenty that Miramax was not nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. They make kick a$$ movies and seems to be a great studio.

-Michael

I didn't know Disney had any problems with the New Jersey Chronicles/View Askew films. Hmm. Anyways, Bennifer haters should see it too as Kevin Smith always does an excellent job with his movies (even though this one has been waiting to open for almost a year)... And Lopez's character dies shortly into it, so. I think most people know what Miramax is and what kinds of movies they put out... Oscar bait. ;)

Mike, that's not true since Miramax didn't have a movie nominated for the 1992 awards... But Disney did (Beauty and the Beast).

-Danny *** Edited 2/17/2004 4:09:20 PM UTC by Koaster King***

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Impulse-ive said:
Disney's goin down and goin down hard. There's still a chance to save the ship, and its probably very much salvageable, but there's more ahead.

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Well, I don't know about that. I wouldn't say that the company is at risk of dying here. There are many chances to save the ship (if the ship were going to hit an iceberg, which I don't believe for a minute), and all those chances start with throwing overboard a 6'3" CEO that "expired" about a decade ago.

I can't say that I blame Eisner for everything- he has not been the cause of all that has gone wrong with Disney. But when the players on a professional sports team play bad, the players don't get fired- the coach does. So, while Uncle Mickey may not have done everything, he assumed a position which makes him the scapegoat when things go wrong. I think that a LOT of Disney's issues will evaporate if he was ousted today.

In saying "going down" I meant more that, maybe even temporarily, they're not going to be top dog in *everything* anymore. They'll lose some ground in movies, they're already losing a little of their perfect squeaky-clean record in the amusement parks, the Disney stores have changed (I went VDay shopping in one for my girlfriend and was very disappointed in the store - and it wasn't just one mall, this was in two separate ones). I think Disney's gonna have to come back down to earth with the rest of "us" and compete for their customers for a little while instead of having it handed to them on a silver platter.

Maybe if they ditch Eisner and get some new blood in there and realize that their marketing and ideas that are based in the late 70s and early 80s aren't gonna fly in the 2000s, then things will improve, but the days of "oh you're Disney? Ok, whatever you want..." are goin down (and that's what I'm laughing about)

Koaster King.. check out all the flack that Kevin caught over 'Dogma'. Once Lion's Gate Films picked it up.. the attacks stopped..

The protestors were after the Mouse. Dogma was just the vehicle they picked. Hell.. Stigmata came out at the same time and bashed the church more than almost any movie ever and not a word was said. Why?? Wasn't linked to Disney..

Dogma would have been targeted no matter what and a lot of studios were afraid to release it (same with The Passion of the Christ). Stigmata didn't have any type of huge appeal or starpower behind it and wasn't *that* successful in theatres at all. The same goes for movies rated NC-17. The Dreamers is the first movie released in American theatres in a looooong time with that rating (the last was Crash in 96 I believe with the one before that being Showgirls in 95). Most movie studios, especially Disney, aren't up for a risk unless it means money and won't haunt them. They would have been fine with Dogma. I think eventually the Catholics who actually saw it found something to laugh about. Buena Vista still released the other Kevin Smith movies and didn't abandon him when Ben Affleck tried to catch a lesbian (before Dogma) or when Jay and Silent Bob tried to set a cursing record in Strike Back.

-Danny

Dogma is Kevin Smith's best film to date, though Chasing Amy is a close second. While a comedy, I think that Dogma addresses so many fundamental issues about faith and religion that everyone should have to watch it. Brilliant dialog throughout, and I think I too would have cast Alannis as God.

I have to agree with that. At first glance, people think its an anti-religion movie, but I think that it actually endorses the idea of religion (at least in a basic sense) rather than slams it. Sure, it picks on how ridiculous it can be, but the general idea of religion playing a part in everything is there.

I never "got" Chasing Amy. I mean, I got the concept of the movie, but it never clicked with me. I much prefer Jay & Silent Bob as my second-favorite Kevin Smith movie. Its gross and disgusting for the sake of being gross and disgusting, but it works in a way that many movies of that type fail to. I can't wait to see the new movie... whenever it happens to come out.

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Robocoaster said:I guess this puts the kibosh on seeing "Reservoir Dogs: The Ride" at any of Disney's parks...

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Darn you, Robocoaster... I opened this thread with the sole purpose of saying, "So much for Pulp Fiction: The Ride." :)

Koaster King, actually there have been quite a few NC-17 movies released, most notably "Orgazmo" and "Two Girls and a Guy."

http://www.nc17film.com/listing.html

How in the HELL did Orgazmo get an NC-17 rating? My copy of it doesn't even have a rating, it doesn't even acknowledge that it came out in theatres. That movie is so absolutely tame compared to some of the awful, horrible, disgusting crap that comes out with R ratings.

What about Rob Zombie's movie? What about that one with Pierce Brosnan where the girl doesn't have a shirt on the entire movie? Orgazmo has one, count 'em, one scene where even a piece of female body is exposed, and even that blips away in an instant to a guy's rear end!

And the language in Orgazmo is like church-talk compared to Bad Santa and Jay and Silent Bob! I'm sorry but if your information is correct and Orgazmo got an NC-17, that just absolutely, highly offends me.

Long live Trey Parker and Matt Stone movies!

Speaking of that - Baseketball was worse than Orgazmo! Trey even admitted that on a Pittsburgh PBS show called On-Q that he was on. Talk about ridiculous ...