Brodie: Yeah, well, once they made She's All That, everything went to hell.
Founded by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein in 1979, Miramax Films
is a film and television distribution company known for their library of many, many critically-acclaimed films. In its heyday, the studio was notorious for specifically creating Oscar Bait Movies and releasing them one after the other in order to appear to be the studio that "gets the most Oscars." They have released such Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated films as My Left Foot, The Crying Game, The Piano, Pulp Fiction, The English Patient, Good Will Hunting, Shakespeare in Love, The Cider House Rules, Chicago, Gangs of New York, The Hours, Cold Mountain, The Aviator, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. (The last two released through the label after Harvey and Bob left.) However, they also produce movies that are not considered Oscar Bait, such as The View Askewniverse. This is the very company that launched Quentin Tarantino's career as a director, producing the above mentioned Pulp Fiction as well as Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill and Jackie Brown. It also released many action, thriller, and horror films, such as Scream, Scary Movie, Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, and Spy Kids (their only movie to receive a family-approved seal by The Dove Foundation), all of which were released under Dimension Films, Miramax's brand for genre films.
Originally an independent company (relying on Live Entertainment, HBO Video and Paramount, among others, for home distribution), the company was purchased by The Walt Disney Company on June 30, 1993. Although the Weinsteins continued operating the company independently under Disney, the latter still had the final say on what would be released.note On September 30, 2005, the Weinsteins left Miramax (and Disney as a whole) to start another company known as The Weinstein Company, which the Dimension Films brand was moved to. This dealt a major blow to Miramax as a whole, as they no longer had their main powerhouses at hand; after distributing some more films time to time, in 2010 Miramax and its film library was then sold to Ron Tutor and his company Filmyard Holdings (making Disney the first major studio to sell a portion of its library in over 50 years, something which was done by several studios in the 1950s to make quick cash in the early television era), only for it to be sold in 2016 to beIN Media Group, which had been formed in 2012 as a spinoff of Al Jazeera's sports holdings. In December 2019, the newly reunited ViacomCBS announced a deal with beIN to acquire 49% of Miramax. With it, Paramount Pictures gained worldwide distribution rights to its library (in a sense, bringing Miramax full-circle (with a few exceptions)) and will invest in new titles based on Miramax IP (with a few exceptions). In between Disney's sale of the studio and ViacomCBS's acquisition, Lionsgate held the home video rights to the Miramax catalog in the USA, and StudioCanal distributed those films in Europe. Spyglass Media Group (the successor to The Weinstein Company) held the rights to make any sequels to Miramax/Dimension properties. The involvement of Paramount notably gave the studio domestic distribution rights to The Crow (1994), a movie they had abandoned during production after the on-set death of star Brandon Lee, to be picked up by Miramax. Canadian rights to Miramax titles were held by Alliance Atlantis since 1994 (which would part ways with them in 2008 to move distribution to Maple Pictures), a new deal between both parties was signed in 2011. The deal even continued under eOne's (later bought by Hasbro in 2019 and Lionsgate in 2023) watch after Alliance Films was absorbed into them in 2013.
During especially the Weinsteins' tenure, it was infamous for often cutting and/or delaying foreign films they bought the rights to, such as Hero (2002), Gandahar, and The Thief and the Cobbler. This resulted in a now-legendary feud with Japanese animator and director Hayao Miyazaki when they attempted to do the same to Princess Mononoke in an effort to get the infamously Darker and Edgier film knocked down to a more marketable PG rating. Miyazaki, having already felt deeply offended by the significant recuts made to the first international release of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind in 1985, was determined to ensure that his vision was not tampered with, with his producer, Toshio Suzuki, eventually sending the Weinsteins an authentic katana with a note attached: "NO CUTS." Princess Mononoke proceeded to be released uncensored in American theaters in 1999, with a PG-13 rating attached.
Films produced and/or distributed by Miramax:
- 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002; with Universal)
- 54 (1998)
- Addicted to Love (1997; with Warner Bros.)
- Adventureland (2009)
- All the Pretty Horses (2000; with Columbia Pictures)
- Amélie (2001; license expired and rescued by Sony Pictures Classics in 2023)
- An Unfinished Life (2005)
- Ararat (2002)
- Avalon (2001)
- The Aviator (2004; with Warner Bros.)
- Bad Santa 2 (2016)
- Baran (2001)
- The Barbarian Invasions (2003)
- Basquiat (1996)
- Beautiful Girls (1996)
- Beyblade: The Movie-Fierce Battle (2002; English dub, with Nelvana)
- Becoming Jane (2007)
- The Beekeeper (2024) — Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- The Best of Youth (2003)
- Birthday Girl (2001)
- The first three BIONICLE movies (2003-05; with LEGO, Creative Capers and Wang Film Productions)
- BIONICLE: Mask of Light (2003)
- BIONICLE 2: Legends of Metru Nui (2004)
- Blindness (2008)
- Blow Dry (2001)
- The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008)
- Brassed Off (1996)
- Bride and Prejudice (2004)
- Brideshead Revisited (2008)
- Bridget Jones series (with Universal and StudioCanal):
- Bridget Jones' Diary (2001)
- Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)
- Bridget Jones' Baby (2016; with Toho and Fuji Television)
- The Brothers Grimm (2005)
- Buffalo Soldiers (2001)
- Bullet in the Head (1990)
- Bullets over Broadway (1994)
- Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001; with Universal)
- The Castle (1997)
- Celebrity (1998)
- Chasing Amy (1997)
- Chicago (2002)
- Children of Heaven (1997)
- Chungking Express (1994; license expired and rescued by Janus Films and The Criterion Collection in 2020)
- Chocolat (2000)
- The Cider House Rules (1999)
- Cinderella Man (2005; with Universal)
- City of God (2002)
- Clerks (1994)
- Confess, Fletch (2022)
- The Closet (2001)
- Cold Mountain (2003)
- Cop Land (1997)
- The Crossing Guard (1995)
- The Crow (1994) (Also see the Dimension Films page)
- The Crying Game (1992)
- Cypher (2002)
- The Debt (2010)
- Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004)
- Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
- Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996)
- Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)
- Doubt (2008)
- Duplex (2003)
- Eagle Vs Shark (2007)
- East is East (1999)
- Ella Enchanted (2004)
- The English Patient (1996)
- The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995)
- Enigma (2001)
- Everybody's Fine (2009)
- Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
- The Exorcism (2024)
- Exotica (1994)
- Extract (2009)
- Finding Neverland (2004)
- Flirting with Disaster (1996)
- The Four Feathers (2002; with Paramount)
- Four Rooms (1995)
- Fresh (1994)
- Frida (2002)
- Gangs of New York (2002)
- Garden State (2004; with Fox Searchlight Pictures)
- The Gentlemen (2019; with STX Entertainment)
- Get Over It (2001)
- Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989; with Toho and HBO Films; license expired and rescued by Janus Films and The Criterion Collection in 2021)
- Gone Baby Gone (2007)
- Good Will Hunting (1997)
- The Great Raid (2005)
- The Grifters (1990)
- The Hairy Bird (1998)
- Halloween series:
- Halloween (2018) — co-produced with Blumhouse Productions and distributed by Universal
- Halloween Kills (2021)
- Halloween Ends (2022)
- Hamlet (2000)
- Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
- Happy, Texas (1999)
- Heavenly Creatures (1994)
- Hero (2002)
- The Hoax (2006)
- The Holdovers (2023)
- Hollywoodland (2006)
- Holy Smoke! (1999)
- Hostage (2005)
- Hostel (2005)
- The Hours (2002; with Paramount)
- The House of the Spirits (1993)
- The House of Yes (1997)
- Human Traffic (1999)
- I'm Not Scared (2003)
- The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)
- In the Bedroom (2001)
- Iron Monkey (1993)
- Jackie Brown (1997)
- Jane Eyre (1996)
- Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019)
- Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
- Jersey Girl (2004)
- Kate & Leopold (2001)
- Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and Volume 2 (2004)
- Kinky Boots (2005)
- Life Is Beautiful (1997)
- Little Voice (1998)
- The Lookout (2007)
- Love Crimes (1992)
- Love's Labour's Lost (2000)
- The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
- Malèna (2000)
- Mansfield Park (1999)
- Master and Commander (2003; with 20th Century Fox and Universal)
- The Matador (2005)
- Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
- Mr. Holmes (2015)
- Music of the Heart (1999)
- The Musketeer (2001; with Universal)
- My Left Foot (1989)
- Naqoyqatsi (2002)
- Neverwas (2005)
- No Country for Old Men (2007; with Paramount Vantage)
- Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023)
- Paid in Full (2002)
- The Perfection (2018)
- Phantoms (1998)
- The Piano (1993)
- Pinocchio (2002)
- Playing by Heart (1998)
- Some of the Pokemon movies outside Japan (rights reverted to The Pokémon Company International in 2023):
- Pokémon 4Ever (2001)
- Pokémon Heroes (2002)
- Pokémon: Jirachi: Wish Maker (2003)
- Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys (2004)
- Princess Mononoke (1997; English dub, rights reverted to Disney two years after they sold Miramax, and purchased by GKIDS five years after that)
- Prêt-à-Porter (1994)
- Priest (1994)
- Pulp Fiction (1994)
- The Queen (2006)
- The Quiet American (2002)
- Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
- Rampage (1987) (1987)
- Renegade Force (1998)
- Reservoir Dogs (1992; produced by Carolco Pictures, owned outright by Lionsgate)
- Restoration (1995)
- Rounders (1998)
- Scary Movie 4 (2006)
- Senseless (1998)
- Serendipity (2001)
- sex, lies, and videotape (1989)
- Shakespeare in Love (1998; with Universal)
- Shall We Dance (2004)
- Shaolin Soccer (2001)
- Sherlock: Case of Evil (2002)
- She's All That (1999)
- The Shipping News (2001)
- Sin City (2005) and its sequel (2014)
- Sirens (1994)
- Sliding Doors (1998; with Paramount)
- Sling Blade (1996)
- Smoke (1995)
- Smoke Signals (1998)
- The Snapper (1993; with Touchstone Pictures)
- Sonatine (1993)
- Southside With You (2016)
- Starsky & Hutch (2004; international distribution only through Buena Vista International)
- The Station Agent (2003)
- Swingers (1996)
- The Switch (2010)
- Tadpole (2002)
- The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999; with Paramount)
- The Tall Guy (1989)
- The Taste of Others (2000)
- The Tempest (2010)
- Texas Rangers (2001)
- There Will Be Blood (2007; with Paramount Vantage)
- The Thin Blue Line (1988)
- Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)
- Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1992)
- Trainspotting (1996)
- Tsotsi (2005)
- Uncle Frank (2020)
- Undisputed (2002)
- Velvet Goldmine (1998)
- View from the Top (2003)
- A Walk on the Moon (1999)
- The Wedding Ringer (2015)
- Welcome to Sarajevo (1997)
- The Wings of the Dove (1997)
- Wrath of Man (2021)
- Zatoichi (2003)
Television series produced and/or distributed by Miramax:
- Clerks: The Animated Series (2000, 2002)
- Crow's Blood (2016)
- From Dusk Till Dawn (2014-16)
- Project Runway (2004-11)
