by ADAM WIVIOTT

The Weinstein Company was launched by Harvey and Bob Weinstein, the founders of Miramax Films in 1979, in 2005 and encompasses Dimension Films, which was founded by Bob Weinstein in 1993. [1]  The Weinstein Company is known for its critically acclaimed and academy award worthy dramas including The Imitation Game, The Artist, The King’s Speech, and Django Unchained.  The Weinstein Company is also known for some of its television programs such as Project Runway and all of its subsidiaries. [2]

KEY EXECUTIVES

 FINANCE

The Weinstein Company is an independent film company and ranks Number 7 on the Studio Market Share with 5.6%. [3] It has gone up a rank since last year, in which it was Number 8.  With the releases of Paddington , Woman in Gold , and Eva this year, The Weinstein Company has grossed around $85 Million , domestically, with Paddington bringing in an estimated $75 Million to date.  The Weinstein Company is also experiencing small revenue increases through The Imitation Game and Big Eyes, which are still playing in select theaters across the country. [4]

In Theaters Spring 2015:

PADDINGTON

The Weinstein Company started the year of strong with the release of Paddington in January.  Paddington is the story of a young Peruvian bear  who travels to London in search of a home. Finding himself lost and alone at Paddington Station, he meets the kindly Brown family, who offer him a temporary haven. [5] Paddington has grossed around $75 Million domestically and around $182 Million internationally, bringing in a total of $257 Million. [6] The success of Paddington has allowed room for the studio to release some of its more dramatic films that might not bring in as much revenue, but could potentially be considered for awards within the coming year.

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EVA

Following the successful release of Paddington is the small foreign film Eva.  Eva tells the story of a shy genius who is employed by his former university to design robot software. [7] Eva was released on March 13, and to date has only grossed $16,000 domestically.  Being a foreign film, Eva has only shown in 50 theaters domestically, but has much more success internationally, being distributed in France, Russia, Spain, and Turkey and grossing over $2 million dollars. [8] With the minuscule success of Eva, the Weinstein Company is hoping to bring more box office revenue with the upcoming Woman in Gold.

WOMAN IN GOLD

Following the release of Eva is the Woman in Gold, which premiered on April 1st. This drama tells the story of Maria Altmann, Helen Mirren, an octogenarian Jewish refugee, who takes on the Austrian government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family. [9] The film also stars big name actor Ryan Reynolds.  To date the film has only grossed a mere $10 million domestically and $1 million internationally.  However, the Woman in Gold is only in its second week of distribution, showing in 1504 theaters, so hopefully in the next couple weeks we should see a rise in distribution both domestically and internationally. [10] As of now it is only showing in three countries internationally: New Zealand, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

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 Future Releases: Summer 2015

SOUTHPAW

Coming July, 24, Southpaw tells the story of Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal), a boxer in the height of his fame who’s life fall apart after his wife (Rachel McAdams) is murdered. [11] Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) and written by Kurt Sutter (one of the creators of Sons of Anarchy) and Richard Wenk  (The Equalizer), Southpaw is looking to be one of the next great boxing dramas and could potentially create some Oscar or award worthy buzz. [12] This movie could bring in some good box office revenue for the Weinstein Company this summer.

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UNDERDOGS

Underdogs (aka The Unbeatables), starring Nicholas Hoult and Katie Holmes, [13] tells the story of a young man named Amadeo who sets off on an unexpected adventure with the players of his beloved Foosball game and eventually comes faces to face with his terrible rival Guosso. The film has been circulating the foreign markets since 2013, bringing in around $25 million in box office revenue over the past couple years, and is expected to hit theaters domestically in August of this summer. [14]

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 Business Ventures

GOLD

The Weinstein Company has acquired U.S. rights to Gold, the Stephen Gaghan-directed film starring Matthew McConaughey and Edgar Ramirez. [15] The deal is in the vicinity of a $15 million minimum guarantee and a P&A guarantee north of $20 million to properly market a release on at least 2500 screens . CAA brokered the deal in an auction and Black Bear Picture’s Teddy Schwarzman is backing the film. [16] 

HAPPY PEOPLE EAT AND DRINK COFFEE

In addition to this, The Weinstein Company has acquired the film and publishing rights to French Author Agnes Martin Lugand’s debut Novel Happy People Read and Drink Coffee. [17] The film adaptation will be produced by Maeva Gatineau and Sebastien Fechner of Source Films, who brought the material to Weinstein, with Negeen Yazdi and Julie Oh overseeing for TWC. [18] The book centers on Diane, who is still mired in grief after losing her husband and daughter in a car accident the year before, and her cafe is no longer a sanctuary. Searching for a way to remain close to her husband, she takes a trip to a place he always wanted to visit — Ireland. The deal for the project was negotiated by Sarah Sobel, EVP Business & Legal Affairs, for TWC with attorney David Miercourt on behalf of Source.

SHE’S ALL THAT

The Weinstein Company and Miramax films are in talks of remaking the 1999 film She’s All That.  The story is about a hot shot high school student (Prinze Jr.) who takes a bet from his jock friends to turn an unpopular, somewhat geeky wallflower (Cook) into prom queen.  As of now, Kenny Leon is signed on to direct, which doesn’t inspire much confidence since he directed Lifetime’s 2012 remake of Steel Magnolia. Drawing from Steel magnolia, there is much speculation that this remake of She’s All That will feature a predominantly black cast, which will be a refreshing twist on the iconic romantic comedy genre. [19]

[1] The Weinstein Company, weinsteinco.com/about-us 4/15/15

[2] Weinstein Company Films, boxofficemojo.com 4/15/15

[3] Studio Market Share, boxofficemojo.com/studio/ 4/15/15

[4] Box Office Revenue, deadline.com/weinstein/revenue 4/15/15

[5] Paddington Movie Review, rottentomatoes.com/m/paddington 4/15/15

[6] Paddington Domestic and International Revenue, boxofficemojo.com 4/15/15

[7] Eva, imdb.com 4/15/15

[8] Eva International Box office, hollywoodreporter.com 4/15/15

[9] Woman in Gold, telegraph.co.uk/film/woman-in-gold 4/15/15

[10] Woman in Gold Box Office, boxofficemojo.com 4/15/15

[11] Southpaw, imdb.com 4/15/15

[12] Southpaw Cast and Crew, comingsoon.net/movie/southpaw 4/15/15

[13] Underdogs Actors and Actresses, boxofficemojo.com 4/15/15

[14] International Revenue, boxofficemojo.com 4/15/15

[15] Matthew McConaughey, deadline.com/tag/matthew-mcconaughey 4/16/15

[16] Rights to Gold, deadline.com 4/16/15

[17] Happy People Read and Drink Books, goodreads.com/book/ 4/16/15

[18] Rights to HPRDB, deadline.com/2015/04/happypeoplereadanddrinkcoffee 4/16/15

[19] Remake of She’s All That, firstshowing.net 4/16/15

[20] Southpaw Official Trailer, youtube.com 4/17/15

[21] Woman in Gold Official Trailer, youtube.com 4/17/15

[22] Weinstein Company Logo, images.google.com 4/17/15