Miramax is one of the most prestigious entertainment companies in the world. The company has over 700 motion pictures that are award winning. Collectively, the library has received 284 Academy Award nominations and 68 Oscars, including four Best Picture Awards.

History

Brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein in Buffalo, New York founded Miramax in 1979. The name of the company was formed using the first names of their parents Max and Miriam. Miramax was originally created to distribute independent films categorized as commercially unworkable by the big studios. The company’s first obtained success when the Weinstein brothers partnered with British producer Martin Lewis and acquired the U.S. rights to two concert films he had produced. The shows were produced to benefit Amnesty International, a human rights organization. In 1993, the Walt Disney Company purchased Miramax for $60 million dollars. On December 3, 2010 Disney sold Miramax to Filmyard Holdings which is owned by Colony Capital, for $663 million dollars. The company has since stood on its own as an entertainment production company.

Recent January 2012-Present 

The co-owner of Miramax, Colony Capital, failed to acquire Summit Entertainment. Colony Capital planned to merge it with Miramax, to create a studio with 700 classic specialty titles in its library that would include the Twilight franchise, a foreign sales operation and the ability to produce and distribute its own pictures.

Miramax  CEO Mike Lang Explains His Focus on Digital Marketing

MiraMax College Tour

In early February Miramax launched it’s new college tour with its introductory event being held in Santa Monica at Loyola Marymount University. Miramax’s classic film Good Will Hunting was screened for students and was followed by a question and answer with producer Chris Moore.  The tour continued to the University of Colorado at Boulder to present another Miramax classic, Jackie Brown, directed by Quentin Tarantino. The question and answer session at this screening had the star of the film Pam Grier present.

“We started the College Tour as a way to share our films with a new generation of film lovers and expose them to some modern classics that are just as relevant today as when they were first released.  It is also a wonderful opportunity for young student filmmakers at colleges and universities across America to connect with first class talent in a very candid and open environment.”– Tommy Moreno, Senior Vice President, Operations

Former Miramax CEO Mike Lang

Shortly after Miramax’s chief executive Mike Lang abruptly exited the company after only one year at the position. Lang released this statement: “I’ve enjoyed my time at Miramax.  The company has a great team, and I remain highly supportive of Miramax and its opportunities ahead. I wish the team continued success.” It is still unclear why Lang left the company. Steve Schoch, Miramax CFO, will serve as interim CEO until the position is filled.

Post Mike Lang

On March 29th, Miramax announced the expansion of their global sales team. Miramax made two new hires, Mathilde Rottier, Stuart Shaw, Astrid De Berardinis and Alexandra Tullberg. Mathilde Rottier will be the Vice President of the global sales team, Stuart Shaw, Astris De Berardinis and Alexandra Tullberg as Directors of Sales. The hires were made because of the high demand for Miramax content in new regions such as the Middle East and Asia. “We are also pleased to continue the expansion of our London office with the additions of Alexandra, Astrid and Stuart. They will serve as key sales liaisons with European and Middle Eastern providers as we introduce our lasting and modern films to many territories for the first time.” said Joe Patrick, Head of Worldwide Sales at Miramax.

Miramax added another broadcaster to its licensed content list. British multichannel broadcaster UKTV made an agreement with Miramax in which a number of Studio hit films will be made available to UKTV subscribers in the UK and Ireland across its basic pay and DTT channels.

Miramax made another deal TV platform. The company announced on April 1st that that it has made a deal with Sky Italia in which Sky Italia will show many of Miramax’s collection on the company’s pay television channels in Italy. “The Miramax library offers hit movies in every genre, from action-adventure and horror to comedy and family films – and a vast array of award-winning dramas.  We are pleased to continue developing alliances around the globe and that the Miramax films will continue to be available in the Italian market through Sky Italia’s fantastic service.”, said Danny Goldman, Miramax’s Senior Vice President and Head of Sales in Europe.

Legal Dispute

Miramax’s parent company Filmyard Holdings LLC was sued by David Bergstein who claimed he was owed 6 million dollars and 3.3 percent equity in Miramax. Bergstein claims he orchestrated the Colony Capital led purchase of Miramax from The Walt Disney Company. The number that Bergstein is claiming he is owed is worth more than twenty million dollars. The suit was settled outside of court three weeks later, but details of the settlement’s amount was not released.

References

(1) Miramax Film Corporation

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Miramax-Film-Corporation-company-History.html

(2) Miramax Blog

http://www.miramax.com/blog/

(3) Miramax CEO Unexpectedly Resigns: Los Angles Times

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2012/03/miramax-ceo-mike-lang-unexpectedly-resigns.html

(4) Miramax to License Samuel Goldwyn Film Library

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/miramax-samuel-goldwyn-film-library-licensing-deal-306788

(5) Miramax inks UKTV pact: International sales arm expanded

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-03-29/entertainment/sns-201203290825reedbusivarietynvr1118052044mar29_1_miramax-inks-channels

(6) Miramax Owner Settles David Bergstein Lawsuit

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/miramax-david-bergstein-lawsuit-315620

(7) Miramax College Tour

http://www.miramax.com/2012/02/15/miramax-college-tour-cu-boulder-2/

(8) Goldsmith, Jill (April 2, 2012).

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118052165?refCatId=13

(9) BT Vision and Miramax Sign On Demand Movie Deal

http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20120131005592/en

Brief Overview

Founded May 31^st 1935 by William Fox, Joseph Schnenck, and Darryl Zanuck, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation has grown to become one of the leading film production companies in the world. Along with the five other major film studios, 20^th Century Fox has its headquarters based in Los Angeles, California. The studio is actually a subsidiary of News Corporation, which is headed by Rupert Murdoch. The company was officially created when Fox Film Corporation merged with Twentieth Century Pictures in 1935. Some of 20^th Century Fox’s most well-known films include The Star Wars Trilogy, X-Men, and Die Hard just to name a few. The company is also responsible for such TV Shows as The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad. Actors such as Marilyn Monroe and Shirley Temple have been film stars who were employed by 20^th Century Fox. The studio also has partnership with Lucasfilm, EuropaCorp, and Spyglass Entertainment.

Recently, 20^th Fox Century has been spotlighted in the news for its claims that Blue-Ray technology is not dead. The studio says that they plan to revive this fairly new technology by retailing more movies and improving overall quality. The production company also recently pulled a trailer for a summertime movie release called Neighbourhood Watch because some found it inappropriate for its PG Rating. Fox will continue to maintain its prominent and strong position in the large field of producing media in film, television, and music.

Brief History –> Current State

1935- began a two company merger.
Fox Film Corporation joined Twentieth Century Pictures to complete what would become one of the most powerful and widespread film companies to ever exist. The company originally started as an independent distributor for film distribution company, United Artists. When important stocks were loss, Co-founder, Darryl Zanuck, began searching for new investors and distributors for movie productions. In May, 1935, Fox Film’s Sidney Kent decided to attempt to merge with Twentieth Century Pictures with hopes of helping his ailing Fox company. Eventually, with Kent as president, Zanuck as head-of-production, and Joseph Schenck as chairman, one of Hollywood’s biggest film powerhouses was created.

The progression of the logo for the company has gone through 10 existing changes throughout its 75 plus years of progression.
1935 (founding date)

2010 (75th Anniversary)

The technology and graphics of a large amount of what Fox is comprised of have drastically improved over the years. Fox now offers many popular animated cartoons.

The 1950’s brought much struggle for the somewhat thriving company. The advent and social boom of public television in domestic settings interfered harshly with the progression of any movie company during this time. Fox had made big investments in some movies, hoping that there would be an opportunity to strike a large sum of money before they predicted television’s massive expansion.

Zanuck almost independently produced low-budgeted movies in these times of desperation. Fox Studios produced over 20 movies in only 14 months. The mid 1960’s brought serious positive optimism for Zanuck and his company. The release of The Sound of Music in 1964 was the predicted payoff that Zanuck had hoped for. The film grossed over $80 million in revenues, and became top of the box office charts for weeks. In surpassing MGM’s Gone with the Wind, which monetarily had not been topped for almost 30 years, 20th Century Fox became prominent as one of America’s most powerful studio companies.
Some 45 years later, Fox still makes profit from this musical movie, as in 2010, the film was released in Blue-Ray.

Again, the 1980’s brought struggle for the company as they released three consecutive movies with a lack of profit. The budgets outweighed the profits for movies such as:
The Rose, and I Ought to be in Pictures.

In 1985, News Corporation’s Rupert Murdoch, invested $132 million in 20th Century Fox to own half of the company. With the combination of this money, the resources Murdoch offered, and the acquirement of several television networks, Fox Studios almost immediately advanced $88 million in profits. Just recently in late April, a committee of British lawmakers claimed that Murdoch was inevitably unfit to run his News Corp company, along with 20th Century Fox.

With the help of Murdoch’s fundings, 20th Century Fox was able to establish itself as one of America’s most thriving and successful Film studios to ever exist.

In 1988, The New York Times, headlined an article: “20th Century-Fox Advances in Box-Office War.” The release of Tom Hanks’ Big profited the company over $100 million. This was a major milestone for 20th Century Fox in becoming one of the top movie production companies.
See NYTimes article

20th Century Fox hangs on to the 5th position of the “Big Five” Studio Production Companies. It trails such industry giants as Universal and Sony.
The following chart represents the money distribution to the top ten film production companies in America in the year 2012:

20th Century Fox should continue to remain a dominant force for film production in the movie industry for much time to come.

After Fox attempted to delay DVD production of some popular films, Redbox, the 1 dollar per night DVD rental technology, has decided to sue Fox because they felt as if this action would intentionally delay Redbox sales and put their business at a disadvantage. A news article on this major drawback in Fox’s thriving success can be found here:
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/3894082/

News Source recently published an article that spoke of choosing a new software to monitor Fox’s video content around the world.
The technology, called Civolution, will track audience members’ usage of any of Fox’s video content. It will also manage and hopefully monetize much of what Fox publicly broadcasts via television, movies, the internet, or any other source of media information today.
The service offered is called Teletrax. Teletrax will help to establish certain viewing preferences, trends, and predictions that can be made for 20 Century Fox’s future. For example, Fox is currently monitoring video data usage in other places across the world, such as Europe, and the Middle-East. This allows Fox to analyze user data globally and helps the company to compare American data with data from places around the world.

News Source interviewed with 20 Century Fox’s ECO, Tom Rothman, about the future release of some Fox Studio made films. Two included were the mention of, yet another, X-Men movie. This promises to be a box-office success according to Rothman, who claims the movie features a more “Bad ass Wolverine” character. (Complex Magazine)
Rothman also spoke of the 2012 release of the new Die Hard series movie. A Good Day to Die Hard will feature the ageless Bruce Willis, but also the inclusion of his son. The film aims to satisfy mostly a male audience. Rothman claimed that the film will attract many for its usage of rarely seen emotions from Bruce Willis because he has grown close with his son. The film hopes to be another successful inclusion to the very popular Die Hard series.

Super hero movies that Fox has been responsible for have often disappointed audience members. Fox hopes to reboot their making of a new Fantastic Four movie after the previous two failures. Fox also hopes to rewrite or remake many of its older stories. The unsuccessful film, Daredevil, saw little box-office and domestic success. It was claimed as one of the worst super hero movies of all time in fact. Fox has recently hired David James Kelly to rewrite another Daredevil movie. While Kelly has no actual prior Hollywood screenplay writing background, Fox Studios hopes that the second go at this super hero film will be much more of a success.

20th Century Fox is always hoping to move forward in their movie production, and in their presence in many other media industries. The addition on many anticipated films should promise to keep Fox’s business thriving for years to come.
Whether Fox will surpass other production companies is at question; the studio should not worry much about losing its top ranks though.
The following page link outlines, by year, all the movies that 20th Century Fox has ever released.
Full List of 20th Century Fox Movies

Fox employs thousands of workers worldwide, owns dozens of global headquarters, and is partially responsible for much that we see in the movies, television, the news, the internet, and any other media source we use.