JJ House
The Weinstein Company logo — source: dundascommunications.com
The Weinstein Company
99 Hudson St Fl 4
New York, NY, 10013 United States
(212) 845-8600
http://www.weinsteinco.com
Overview
The Weinstein Company Inc. is a film production studio that was founded in 2005 by Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein. It is a subsidiary of The Weinstein Company Holdings LLC. The two brothers founded the company after they left Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had founded in 1979.
The Weinstein Company is considered a mini-major film studio. This means it is a smaller production company, yet it always competes, or at least tries to compete, in the same market as major production companies (such as Universal Pictures or Paramount) [1]. Since its formation, The Weinstein Company has produced and released 117 feature films and has amassed over 300 Academy Awards nominations — giving the company the reputation of having a Midas touch for producing critically successful films [2]. Along with critical success, many of The Weinstein Company’s films have been box office hits. To see Box Office Mojo’s list of The Weinstein Company’s top box office successes, click here.
Company Structure
The Weinstein Company (TWC) is privately owned, and therefore detailed financial information is not available to the public [3]. The top executives in the company are: Mr. David Glasser, President and COO; Mr. Harvey Weinstein, Co-Founder, Co-Chairman, and Principal; Mr. Robert (Bob) Weinstein, Co-Founder, Co-Chairman, and Principal [3]. These three are known to have close personal relationships with one another on top of their business ones. Bob Weinstein has said, “Although many have tried to claim the title third brother, David [Glasser] is the only one that we would proudly bestow that moniker” [4]. But these three men don’t have complete control of the company. As well as the top executives, there are more than 30 investors in TWC, including AMC Networks, WPP, Tunisian entrepreneur Tarak Ben Ammar and hedge funds like Ziff Brothers [5]. Many of these major investors have representatives on the company’s board of directors [5].
President/COO, David Glasser — Source: screendaily.com
Bob Weinstein — Source: Dailymail.co.uk
Harvey Weinstein — Source: freedomoutpost.com
Earlier this year The Weinstein Company was making industry headlines because in late July David Glasser announced that he was leaving the company [6]. He announced he would leave the company in November after helping it set up its 2015-16 film slate [4]. However, on September 9th it was announced that Glasser reversed his decision to leave The Weinstein Company, and has actually signed a new deal, keeping him with the company until at least 2018 [6].
2015-2016 Titles
As a production company The Weinstein Company has had an uncharacteristically poor year so far. While most titles the company has churned out in the past year: Big Eyes, Paddington, and Netflix television series Marco Polo, have all been well enough received and have had moderate financial success, none have been critical standouts nor done exceptionally well money-wise [7]. One recent film that has been all-around poor is Burnt, starring Bradley Cooper. The film has a received mostly negative reviews from critics, scoring a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes, and was a flop in the box office [8].
One hopeful redeemer to The Weinstein Company’s poor year is the upcoming Quentin Tarantino film, The Hateful Eight, which is set to release in the US on January 8, 2016. The film is slated to compete with Disney‘s new Star Wars movie, which may pose a threat in the box office. However Tarantino is a renowned director who has perennial success with his films, and the film is being released in a special 70mm “Roadshow” format — so the film is poised to be a hit with more avid movie fans [9]. Some other hopeful future successes on TWC’s slate are: drama/romance Carol, starring Cate Blanchett and McDonald’s biopic The Founder, starring Michael Keaton.
Subsidiaries
The Weinstein Company has two subsidiary production companies: Dimension Films and Radius TWC.
Dimension Films was founded by Bob Weinstein in 1992, when the brothers were still at Miramax Films. They conceived Dimension Films while out for lunch one day, and for two reasons: one, because they had to compete with New Line Cinema, which had just released a new label called Fine Line Features [10]. The other reason was because Bob Weinstein enjoyed genre films more than “art house fare”, which is what Miramax was more focussed on, so it was the perfect label for him to take the helm on [10]. Dimension moved to the The Weinstein Company when the brothers left Miramax, but has remained the same ‘genre’ label as when it was founded.
Currently, Dimension is working a lot in the horror genre. They are producing a horror feature Amityville: The Awakening, which is set to release in 2016. They are also producing the MTV series Scream: The TV Series, which, despite changing showrunners, is set to have a second season [11]. Dimension is also developing another television series based on The Mist, which was a Stephen King novella and a 2007 film by Frank Darabont [12].
Radius TWC is a boutique label from The Weinstein Company that specializes in both theatrical and multi-platform VOD distribution [13]. It was founded in 2011 by Tom Qiunn, Co-President and Jason Janego, Co-President. The two led the company for four years, until August 2015 when they both left to start their own new company [14]. It is unclear who now mans the helm at Radius TWC following their departure, but The Weinstein Company has kept the label alive.
Radius TWC has had success in the alternative distribution space. In 2013 it simultaneously released dystopian thriller Snowpiercer, both theatrically and on VOD. This turned out to be a huge success, bringing in great numbers for the film [14]. In 2014 it distributed the low-budget horror film It Follows in the same way. The film did very well in the box office and from VOD, grossing almost $15 million (the film’s budget was just $2 million) [14]. This was due to Radius TWC’s calculated distribution [15]. Radius TWC’s most recent release that is making headlines is the Austrian suspense-horror film Goodnight Mommy, which received four stars from Roger Ebert, and is representing Austria at the 2016 Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category [16].
Recent Company Shakeups
Source: Variety.com
On November 15, 2015 it was reported that The Weinstein Company was laying off 40-50 of its roughly 215 employees — mostly those in distribution, publicity, and legal [17]. COO David Glasser said the reason for the job cuts is to “reduce the film division’s overhead to make the company more efficient”. He cited the company’s appealing upcoming film slate as reason for the company to still have success going forward [17].
Following the new of the job cuts, on November 18, 2015 rumors started circulating that The Weinstein Company may be for sale. Apparently the Weinstein brothers are considering selling all or some of the company [5]. One potential acquirer is billionaire Ron Burkle [5]. Supposedly he has an interest in buying part of TWC and merging it with U.K. talent group, Independent Talent Group. These rumors have gained some weight, because certain unnamed board members at TWC have said that the company’s board has not been happy “for a long time” [5]. Speculation is that the board wants to refocus the company more towards television production, as it requires less capital. This speculation can be confirmed as at least mostly true, because on November 24, 2015 The Weinstein Company announced that it was reducing its film slate to less than ten movies a year and would be increasing its TV operations [18].
Sources
[1] Slanguage Dictionary. (2013, February 20). Retrieved December 2, 2015
[2] Fox, J. (2014, January 29). A Brief History of Harvey Weinstein’s Oscar Campaign Tactics. Retrieved December 2, 2015
[3] The Weinstein Company Inc.: Private Company Information. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2015
[4] McNary, D. (2015, September 9). David Glasser Reverses Course, Staying at the Weinstein Co. Retrieved December 2, 2015
[5] Siegal, T. (n.d.). Layoffs, Defections: Is The Weinstein Co. for Sale? Retrieved December 2, 2015
[6] Jaafar, A., & Fleming Jr, M. (2015, July 30). David Glasser Resigning As Weinstein Company COO After Seven-Year Run. Retrieved December 2, 2015
[7] The Weinstein Company All Time Box Office Results. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2015
[8] Burnt (2015) – Box Office Mojo. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2015
[9] Atkinson, C. (n.d.). How Harvey Weinstein plans to battle ‘Star Wars’ at the box office. Retrieved December 2, 2015
[10] Weinstein, B. (n.d.). Bob Weinstein’s Love Letter to Brother Harvey: “Some Would Say I Deserve a Lifetime Achievement Award” Retrieved December 2, 2015
[11] Lee, B. (2015, November 9). Scream TV Series Replaces Showrunners. Retrieved December 2, 2015
[12] Hipes, P. (2015, September 16). ‘The Mist’ TV Series Emerges From Dimension & Scribe Christian Torpe. Retrieved December 2, 2015
[13] About Radius TWC. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2015
[14] Setoodeh, R., & Lang, B. (2015, August 5). Tom Quinn and Jason Janego Exit Radius-TWC (EXCLUSIVE). Retrieved December 2, 2015
[15] League, T. (n.d.). What The Success of ‘It Follows’ Means for Indie Film Distribution. Retrieved December 2, 2015
[16] Miska, B. (2015, September 9). ‘Goodnight Mommy’ Entered to the 2016 Academy Awards. Retrieved December 2, 2015
[17] Lang, B. (2015, November 15). Weinstein Company Braces for Layoffs (EXCLUSIVE). Retrieved December 2, 2015
[18] Setoodeh, R., & Lang, B. (2015, November 24). Harvey Weinstein to Release Fewer Indie Films (EXCLUSIVE). Retrieved December 2, 2015