bob weinstein
Empty Desks, Fire Sales, and Other Signs of the Weinstein Apocalypse
3:50AM STV | There aren’t a lot of wheels left to fly off at the Weinstein Company, where as many as five executives are now expected to have made their exits by the end of the year. Add on the news that its previous Oscar hopeful The Road is officially shelved until 2009 while Bob Weinstein reportedly invests upward of $US60 million in straight-to DVD releases for next year (a market he badmouthed as recently as last week), and your Weinstein DeathWatch countdown may have just acquired new, accelerated momentum. Watch the casualties mount after the jump.
9:02AM STV | Harvey Calls in Sick: The beleaguered Harvey Weinstein dropped out of his scheduled keynote interview today at the Dow Jones/Nielsen “Media and Money” conference in New York, reportedly deferring to brother Bob and Weinstein Company COO Lee Solomon while he attended to a “personal matter.” On the agenda: “[W]hat is Weinstein’s view on the future of the film business and his company?” We hear his proxies stayed positive in the face of Harvey’s conspicuous absence, noting that they have a sure-fire Oscar hopeful on their hands for December and that charitable giving is up a million percent from 2007. [DHD] More »
Inside The Vikings Vs. Aliens Movie That Harvey Weinstein Doesn’t Want You To See
3:50AM Defamer Hollywood | Viking movies aren’t always the easiest sell (as duds like Pathfinder and The 13th Warrior have proven), but the producers of Outlander had a genius idea to improve the formula: add aliens, exploding spaceships, and Jesus Christ himself. The result is a glorious, AICN-vetted $47 million production (fronted by Jim Caviezel and Ron Perlman) that looks like the sober yet entertaining cousin of the Sam Raimi classic Army of Darkness. Alas, Outlander is only the latest film to fall victim to an innovative release strategy begun by Harvey and Bob Weinstein at Miramax and then perfected at their own Weinstein Company: buy distribution rights to an expensive movie, and then never release it theatrically! More »
Harvey Weinstein Offers Rare, Brief Tour of Where His Movies Go to Die
7:20AM Defamer Hollywood | What will the world do when it no longer has Harvey Weinstein to kick around any longer? This isn’t a rhetorical question, either — at least it doesn’t feel that way after the latest in a growing stack of Weinstein Company pre-mortems hit the trades over the last 24 hours. BusinessWeek was first with a relatively tame primer on TWC’s flagging slate, including Bob Weinstein’s prediction that the $171,000-grossing John C. Reilly comedy The Promotion “may make us a few bucks” when the dust settles on home video. No rush, Bob — Wall Street and your 21-cent Genius Products shares can wait. More »
Resolution No. 3: Put The Weinstein Company to Death For Forthcoming ‘Fraggle Rock’ Film
2:30AM Defamer Hollywood | WHEREAS, The Weinstein Company is a theatrical releasing venture co-owned by the brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein, and
God Sheds a Tear, Shoots Self at News of ‘Short Circuit’ Remake
8:40AM Defamer Hollywood | Mere days after the news of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure 3 flared a fresh ulcer in our cultural digestive tract, news over the wire says Bob Weinstein is planning his own Apocalypse Pre-Game Show with a remake of the 1986 hit Short Circuit. The original featured Steve Guttenberg and Ally Sheedy in top form as the annoying flesh-and-blood foils of a stupid fucking wise-cracking government robot named Johnny Five, who gets struck by goddamned lightning and finds Gadget Jesus or some bullshit that changes his whole global perspective to pro-peace/disarmament/”fuck you Ronald Reagan.” But wait — it gets worse. More »
