A member of the Weinstein Co. board of directors has issued a statement on behalf of the board in support of Bob and Harvey Weinstein's role in a consortium looking to acquire Miramax Films from Disney.

The move comes after Mark Cuban, a small investor in the Weinstein Co., told Bloomberg News he had concerns about the deal. Cuban's statement led the Weinstein Co. to fire back that his issues had to do with "The Road," a movie that the Weinstein Co. released to disappointing results late last year. Cuban was an investor in that movie. Company Town asked Cuban if his concerns were with the release strategy of "The Road" or with the Miramax deal and he said in an e-mail that "they go hand-in-hand."

Board member Richard Koenigsberg said the board "couldn’t be more excited about the possibility of the Weinstein Company being in business with Ron Burkle, Fortress and the possibility of an acquisition of Miramax." He added that the board gives its "full support to Bob and Harvey in their efforts on behalf of the Weinstein Company in relation to Miramax."

The deal being negotiated for Miramax has Burkle putting up about half of the $625 million being offered for the library, with additional funds coming primarily from Fortress Investment Group. Neither Bob or Harvey Weinstein or the Weinstein Co. are putting up any money for the deal. The library will be managed by the Weinstein Co., which will collect a fee from the owners.

As for Cuban, Koenigsberg said the Dallas Mavericks owner is "one of our shareholders who we admire greatly. He is not on the Board."

Cuban's stake in Weinstein Co. is less than 5%, and he may be trying to exert pressure on the production company to try to get back some of his investment in "The Road." He wanted the movie to be opened in 1,200 theaters, but the Weinstein Co. ended up adopting a much smaller release strategy.

"We have been diligently working to rectify this situation," Koenigsberg said.

Koenigsberg went on to warn any other board members about speaking to the media. Doing so, he said, "is in violation of a confidentiality agreement and the Board will pursue that vigorously."

-- Joe Flint

Exclusive negotiations between the Walt Disney Co. and Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who are backed by supermarket magnate Ron Burkle, over the potential acquisition of Miramax Films are expected to stretch through the weekend, people with knowledge of the discussions said.

Meanwhile, competing bidders Alec and Tom Gores are awaiting the outcome and keeping their bid on the table for the moment, according to a person familiar with the situation. A third bid, from an offshore corporation being advised by beleaguered financier David Bergstein, also remains in the wings.

Disney hopes to wrap up a deal with the Weinsteins by next week, said a person close to the situation. Although the Weinsteins, who founded Miramax in 1979 and sold it to Disney in 1993, remain highly motivated to win back the specialty label, the negotiations still could break down.

Even though there's pressure to sweeten the deal, a person close to Burkle says the investor won't overpay for the asset. Burkle, who brings the money to the contemplated purchase through his investment firm, the Yucaipa Companies, doesn't have the same emotional attachment to Miramax as do the Weinstein brothers, said one person who knows him. To Burkle, it's an investment that is expected to generate a good return, and not, as it is for the Weinsteins, a bid to reclaim the company.

The Burkle-led bid, which was $600 million for the 600-film library, however, is expected to rise to $625 million with the addition of Miramax's remaining unreleased films, which include the animated "Gnomeo and Juliet" and "The Switch," a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston about a 40-year-old woman who uses a turkey baster to become pregnant.

Updated 6 p.m.: A person familiar with the deal said some, but not all, of the unreleased films will be included in the sale.

Under the arrangement being discussed, Miramax's new owners would pay the marketing and distribution costs of releasing the movies and stand to reap most of the box-office revenue -- after paying Disney a 10% distribution fee.

-- Dawn C. Chmielewski and Claudia Eller

Photo: Movie industry executive Harvey Weinstein attends the Broadway opening of "The Addams Family" at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Credit: Jemal Countess / Getty Images

 

Kanbar Entertainment is feeling hoodwinked by the Weinstein Co.

The San Francisco-based movie producer has filed a petition in Superior Court to try to force the Weinstein Co. to begin arbitration proceedings to resolve disputes between the two companies over the production and release of the animated movie "Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil." The movie was originally going to be released Jan. 15, but in December the Weinstein Co. said it was postponing the release to February at the earliest. Since then, no new date has been unveiled. 

At that time, Weinstein Co. senior executive David Glasser said the company wanted to make a few tweaks to the movie and was also focusing its efforts on the January release of "Youth in Revolt." Glasser said in December that the teen comedy was strong enough to "own a couple of weeks." 

Besides the delayed release date, other issues between the two companies include funds that Kanbar alleges Weinstein Co. has not contributed for the movie.  Kanbar's filing also charges that Weinstein is in breach of its joint-production agreement for the movie -- a sequel to the surprise 2006 hit "Hoodwinked: The True Story of Little Red Riding Hood" -- because it never presented a plan to market and distribute the film or make a trailer for it, per the agreement. The filing says the movie was "substantially completed" in April 2009.  

Kanbar is also upset that the Weinstein Co. went ahead with a partnership to offer toys tied to the movie with Burger King without Kanbar's approval. Burger King started offering the toys in January even though there was no movie to promote. 

In his declaration in the filing, Kanbar Entertainment Chief Operating Officer Russell Pollock said the partnership between the two companies has a clause for arbitration and that last month Kanbar sought to start proceedings but that the Weinstein Co. has delayed them.

"TWC has refused to commence arbitration proceedings indicating that it would oppose a petition to compel arbitration," Pollock's declaration said. 

"Arbitration," his statement added, is "essential, among other things, to get the picture to market, to remove TWC [The Weinstein Co.] from any further involvement, and put the 'Hoodwinked' franchise back on its feet."

A Weinstein Co. spokeswoman declined to comment. 

-- Joe Flint

Related Post: Weinstein Co. says it is delaying release of "Hoodwinked Too"

Photo: A scene from "Hoodwinked." Credit: Kanbar Entertainment.

Director Andrew Jarecki ("Capturing the Friedmans") has cut a deal to get the domestic theatrical rights to his feature debut "All Good Things" from the Weinstein Co. and is looking for a new U.S. distributor for the movie.

"All Good Things," starring Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst is inspired by the true story of Robert Durst, the scion of a wealthy New York family who was acquitted of killing his neighbor and whose first wife vanished into thin air. Durst at one point took to dressing as a woman, and he has provided plenty of fodder for the New York tabloids over the years. Jarecki has brought the same meticulous approach to "All Good Things" that he used with the critically acclaimed documentary "Capturing the Friedmans," which was about a New York family that is rocked by accusations of pedophilia. The director spent years investigating all aspects of the case, and the movie spans about three decades of Durst's life. 

"All Good Things" was filmed in 2008. There was talk that it was headed for a fall 2009 release, but that never materialized. There have been debates between Jarecki and the Weinstein Co. for some time about how best to release the movie.

"We had a different strategy for how we wanted to release the picture," said David Glasser, a senior executive at the Weinstein Co. who also oversees distribution. "He purchased the rights back," Glasser said, adding that, "this is not something we normally or traditionally do."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Jarecki, who founded Moviefone, spent several million dollars to regain the U.S. rights. Weinstein Co. paid $6 million to $8 million for the film, a person familiar with the situation said.

While the Weinstein Co. will not release the movie in the U.S., it did keep international rights for the film, as well as the basic cable television rights. Jarecki got the pay television rights back.

"It was very amicable and friendly," Glasser said.

Jarecki's team at Creative Artists Agency have been meeting with potential distributors and hope to have a deal in place shortly.

-- Joe Flint

Photo: Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst in "All Good Things." Credit: James Hamilton/The Weinstein Co.

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Weinstein Co. delays Hoodwinked sequel

Ovation TV, a small independent cable channel based in Santa Monica that is devoted to arts and culture, wants to stand up and bid for Miramax Films.

Miramax's movie library of sophisticated and Oscar-winning titles such as "Shakespeare in Love," "Chicago" and "The English Patient" would complement Ovation's mix of highbrow films, theater performances, documentaries, dance, music and opera, the channel's top executive said.

"We are aggressively pursuing the opportunity to bid on Miramax," Ovation Chief Executive Charles Segars said. "Miramax is one of the few strong, independent brands left in film today. It would be a seamless fit for us." 

Segars said Ovation is well positioned to exploit Miramax's movies across its multiple platforms -- cable TV, video on demand, OvationTV.com and a high-definition channel that the company plans to launch in July. He said he recently alerted Walt Disney Co., which owns the library, about his company's interest in Miramax.

Ovation is one of the smaller cable channels -- available in 36 million homes, just a third of the country's TV households. Segars expects Ovation to be available in 40 million homes by the end of the year. Three and a half years ago, when the current group of owners, including Segars, bought the channel, it was available in 5 million homes.  

"My concern is that if Miramax doesn't get multi-platform stewardship, it will quickly weaken the name brand and fade away," Segars said. He noted that Ovation could also offer genre titles like the "Scream" and "Scary Movie" films from Miramax's Dimension Films label on its video-on-demand service, which is available in 6 million homes.

But Ovation may be coming too late to the party for Miramax.  Disney is poised to enter a second round of bidding with the current group of prospective buyers, including Lions Gate Entertainment, Tom Gores' investment firm Platinum Equity Partners and Weinstein Co.

Bob and Harvey Weinstein, whose Weinstein Co. holds a small stake in Ovation, are scrambling to get financial backing to win back the maverick arthouse distributor they founded in 1979 and later sold to Disney.

"For now, we're doing separate bids," Segars said of the separate Ovation and Weinstein efforts.

Ovation probably would finance an acquisition of Miramax through "some of our current investors as well as outside equity partners," Segars said. Ovation's investors include Hubbard Media, Perry Capital, Arcadia Investment Partners and Corporate Partners II.

Segars was a key architect of the acquisition in 2006, and subsequent relaunch, of Ovation. He runs the company with Chairman Ken Solomon, who also heads the Tennis Channel.

Segars said he's not dissuaded by the fact that Disney has already narrowed the field of bidders. There is  no reason Ovation should be turned away even at this late stage, he said. "It doesn't behoove Disney to keep out other interested parties."

Disney is hoping to close a deal for Miramax next month, but several suitors, among them Summit Entertainment and Qualia Capital, already have bowed out. They balked at the Burbank company's $700-million asking price, saying the cash flow from Miramax movie library isn't enough to justify paying that much of a premium.

 -- Claudia Eller

Andrea Wong, chief executive of Lifetime for nearly three years, is leaving the network. Her contract was due to expire in April.

The shake-up comes less than six months after a corporate restructuring that lumped Lifetime into the A&E Television Networks group, leaving Wong no longer the top executive at the joint venture between Hearst Corp. and Walt Disney Co. Instead, she reported to Abbe Raven, the head of A&E Television Networks. 

Wong worked to give Lifetime a makeover from the network's frumpy image -- but some of her bold business moves backfired.

The MIT graduate agreed to spend more than $150 million to nab the hit show "Project Runway" from Bravo. The expensive deal, which wound up in court when NBC Universal contested the legitimacy of the channel switch, included dozens of movies from the Weinstein Co. that were viewed as stinkers. While "Project Runway" performed well -- though down considerably from when it aired on Bravo -- ratings at the channel have been sliding. It was not the uplifting Lifetime story that Wong was hoping to write when she left her prominent job at ABC in 2007. 

Wong's departure was first reported by the blog deadline hollywood.  It is unclear where Wong will land.

-- Meg James 

Weinstein Co. had a busy Sundance. The production company has sealed a deal for "Blue Valentine," a dark drama about a failed marriage starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, and is near a deal for "The Tillman Story," a documentary about Pat Tillman, the NFL star who quit football to join the military after the Sept. 11 attacks and was killed in a "friendly fire" incident in Afghanistan.

"Blue Valentine" cost Weinstein Co. just north of $1 million, a person familiar with the deal said. The movie got a lot of attention at the festival. We haven't seen it, but a friend did and noted that it has some fairly graphic sex scenes and that it deals with abortion. "The Tillman Story" has also been a darling of the festival. Its price will be in the same ballpark as "Blue Valentine's."

At the same time Weinstein Co. is spending money, it's cutting staff. About 14 people were let go today. The company has been saying for several months that it is trimming its staff to less than 100 people. Right now, there are about 120 employees. There will be additional cuts or contracts not renewed in the months ahead.

-- Joe Flint

A movie about a high school basketball team that rose above the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina -- a film that starred an Oscar winner -- got caught up in Hurricane Weinstein and was quietly dumped into video stores by the production company last month.

"Hurricane Season," starring Forest Whitaker, was based on the true story of a Marrero, La., high school basketball team's amazing run to a state championship with a group of players who were all displaced by Katrina. Besides Whitaker, the movie features Taraji Henson and rapper Lil Wayne.

Filmed in 2007 and 2008, "Hurricane Season" was supposed to be released last year but was kept on the shelf. Company Town specifically asked Weinstein Co. about the fate of "Hurricane Season" last week when we wrote about "Piranha 3-D" getting delayed. We were told there was no hard date for it (or several other movies sitting on the shelf there), and became aware of its straight-to-DVD fate only when a reader sent us a note. (Sorry, we don't get to Blockbuster as much as we used to.)

"Hurricane Season" director Tim Story ("Barbershop," "Fantastic Four") told Company Town that he was disappointed the movie never made it to the big screen. “I have to applaud them for making the movie, but I don’t believe the job was finished,” he said.

The company said its well-publicized financial issues had nothing to do with the decision regarding "Hurricane Season." In a statement, Weinstein Co. senior executive David Glasser said, "It's a very tough marketplace and unfortunately the film did not test well. It was in the best interest of the financial returns on the picture to go straight to video."

Other Weinstein Co. movies in limbo include John Cusack's "Shanghai" and Ryan Gosling's "All Good Things." The company also has recently said it was delaying the releases of "Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil" as well as the above-mentioned "Piranha 3-D." If any of these are already in video stores, please let us know.

-- Joe Flint

Photo: Forest Whitaker. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

The Weinstein Co. is pushing back the release of its sequel to its surprise animated hit "Hoodwinked."

Originally set to premiere the weekend of Jan. 15, "Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil" now will debut in February at the earliest. David Glasser, a senior Weinstein Co. executive who oversees distribution, cited a few reasons for the move.

He said the company is focusing its resources on a big marketing and promotion push for "Youth in Revolt," its teen comedy starring Michael Cera that debuts Jan. 8, and it is also making some "tweaks" to the animation of "Hoodwinked Too."

"We were rushing to get the picture ready," said Glasser of the decision to hit pause on "Hoodwinked Too." Although the original "Hoodwinked" also opened on the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend and did well, Glasser believes "Youth in Revolt" is strong enough to "own a couple of weeks."

Glasser added that Weinstein Co. is the final stages of a marketing deal with a fast-food chain, although he declined to disclose any other details on a promotional tie-in campaign for "Hoodwinked Too."

Glasser said a new firm release date for "Hoodwinked Too" has not yet been set, but he hinted he ls looking at February. While Weinstein Co.'s financial challenges have been well documented and the company has over the last 18 months shuffled many of its release dates (including most recently "Nine"), Glasser said money is not an issue in the decision to delay "Hoodwinked Too!." Weinstein Co. did have reason to celebrate yesterday as the company's movies -- including "Nine" and "Inglourious Basterds" -- were nominated for 12 Golden Globes.

-- Joe Flint

Photo: "Hoodwinked." Credit: Kanbar Entertainment

The Weinstein Co. has struck a deal for all international rights with the Film Department, the production company founded by Mark Gill and Neil Sacker.

The two-year deal will commence with "Law Abiding Citizen," the Jamie Foxx - Gerard Butler thriller that opened this month. Other Film Department movies that will be part of the deal include Kate Hudson's "Earthbound." The deal comes on the eve of AFM, which starts next week in Santa Monica and is where movies are sold for international distribution. 

"It's a very smart strategic partnership for us," said David Glasser, president of Weinstein Co.'s international operations. "These are the kind of decisions you make to grow the company forward. It's a perfect fit with our slate." The Weinstein Co. expects to get foreign rights to at least four pictures a year from the Film Department.

Gill and Sacker have long ties to Weinstein brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein. Gill is a former president of Miramax/Los Angeles, which was founded by the Weinsteins, and Sacker used to head business affairs there. Gill went on to become president of Warner Independent Pictures.

-- Joe Flint