What's Happened to Harvey?
By Josh Young
(NOTE: Today's NYT has a story questioning the direction of TWC. Below is HWT's story from last September on the same subject.)
What’s Harvey Weinstein really up to?
That's the question being asked in the movie business and, more and more frequently, in the entertainment world at large.
Sure, Harvey was strutting his stuff last weekend at the Toronto Film Festival doing what he did best for so many years: convincing film makers that he’s the best person to release their movie. The Weinstein Company jumpstarted the acquisitions market at the Toronto by buying two of the most talked-about unsold films, “Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show” and the horror movie “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane.”
But mostly the man who remade the independent film business has been busy building his new venture The Weinstein Company, founded with brother Bob, and raising (if that’s possible) his profile in the media business world. But some media and movie bigwigs wonder if he is has lost focus of what made him Harvey: movies.
“Harvey’s all over the place,” says one of his media partners. Another advises, “He needs to harness his genius in movies to remain a genius at something.” A former Miramax senior executive adds: “He’s best at being a movie boss. He needs to pay more attention to the (Weinstein Company) movies.”
Point well taken. Consider that the other The Weinstein Company news last week was that it released “The Protector,” a programmer action movie which opened to a middling $5 million and will soon disappear from theaters.
Bearded and slimmer than he was when he left Miramax, Harvey has been spending most of his time making deals and announcing them with bravado. Since The Weinstein Company secured its overall $1.2 billion capitalization, the company has announced a slew of acquisitions, investments, and alliances.
Over the past year, The Weinstein Company has:
-- entered into an exclusive agreement with Genius Products, Inc. for home video distribution.
-- created a partnership with Rainbow Media Holdings to produce and acquire cable television product.
-- launched (with the creative consultation of Quentin Tarantino) a DVD label called Dragon Dynasty that will exploit Asian titles in the world marketplace.
-- partnered with the Jim Henson Company, Flame Ventures and Prana Studios to produce and market direct-to-video, computer generated animated films.
-- teamed up with BET founder Robert Johnson in a production company to finance black family comedies in the $10-15 million range that will be distributed theatrically through Weinstein Company’s label Dimension Films and on DVD through Genius Products.
-- partnered with the Hubbard Media Group and additional investors to buy Ovation, a tiny arts and culture cable channel that banks only about $250,000 a year in advertising revenue.
-- made a multimillion dollar investment in aSmallWorld. net, the initiation only online network dubbed “My Space for the Net Jets set.”
-- undoubtedly spent a lot of money on transaction attorneys.
Where is all this going?
“Not clear,” says one Wall Street analyst who refused to be named for fear of retribution — not from Harvey, but from Weinstein Company investors. “My sense is they are building the company, trying to make it as big as they can, and then seeing if there is a buyer or merger out there.”
United Artists is one possibility. Years ago, the Weinsteins held conversations with Chris McGurk, then MGM vice chairman, about taking over the storied label. The new MGM is once again talking to potential buyers.
Harvey’s profile outside of his own company has increased since leaving Miramax. He's helping to plan Bill Clinton's 60th birthday celebration. He sits on the board of directors of Six Flags, the theme park company run Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, who recently made a deal to finance Tom Cruise’s production company. (Harvey is not involved in the Cruise arrangement.) Harvey also continues to be an integral part of the charitable Robin Hood Foundation. Last spring, he helped book the Rolling stones and Sheryl Crow for a benefit concert. And seldom does a day pass that he isn’t pictured in the social pages with his beautiful designer girlfriend at a fashion show, or written about in the gossip pages for buying a $14.95 million for a townhouse in New York’s West Village.
So, to risk a pun, is Harvey Weinstein spreading himself too thin? Or is he about to become the next media titan?
“Harvey is involved in the movies being released,” says one film maker who is working with The Weinstein Company. “(However) the product thus far seems tepid and bland compared to some of his past success. His signature is not on the movies.”
The Weinstein Company’s films have been unspectacular compared to the halcyon days of Miramax. Last year, the high points were “Transamerica” and “Mrs. Henderson Presents,” but there have been plenty of underperformers, like “The Matador” and “The Libertine.” On its release schedule this fall are the Billy Bob Thornton comedy “School for Scoundrels,” and the horror film remake “Black Christmas.” And don’t forget, they are making a direct-to-video animated version of “The Nutty Professor” with the voice of Jerry Lewis, not to mention a big screen version of “Knight Rider,” based on the TV series about the talking car K.I.T.T.
There are some bright spots, including Anthony Minghella’s “Breaking & Entering,” due out October 6, and “Miss Potter,” starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, which will likely be released in late December for an Oscar qualifying run. The company’s recent acquisition of Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck’s politically-charged documentary “Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing” seems like a classic Harvey play — provided he puts his force of personality behind the film the way he did with “Fahrenheit 9/11.”
“Everyone assumed once Harvey resurfaced and refinanced that he would be even stronger without the restrictions he complained about working at Disney,” says one producer. “Some of the old faithfuls are working (for him), but the films haven’t distinguished themselves. Exceptions, yes. Overall, C-plus.”
Several years ago, Harvey made a publishing deal with Harper Collins to write an autobiography. At the time, it appeared the book would be about the man who built Miramax and changed the movie business. Though he had already completed a manuscript when he made the deal with Harper Collins, the publisher wanted more Harvey, more information, more interesting stuff.
Maybe that’s what he’s working on now. Maybe movies will only be the first half of his life story.
