Weinstein Co. Closes Sale to Lantern for $289 Million | THR News - video Dailymotion

The Weinstein Company is officially no more with its $289 million sale to Lantern Capital Partners having closed Monday.

Transcript

00:00The Weinstein Company is officially no more, with its $289 million sale to Lantern Capital

00:05partners having closed Monday. The company was founded by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein

00:10in 2005 with the intention of becoming a major multimedia force. However, back-to-back

00:14best picture Oscar wins for The King's Speech and The Artist weren't enough to make that dream

00:18a reality, and then the multitude of shocking allegations against Harvey, who has since been

00:23charged with six counts of sexual assault and rape, forced the company into bankruptcy.

00:27Lantern Capital, the Texas-based private equity firm that has bought the Weinstein Company

00:31assets, is headed by Andy Mitchell and Milos Brajevic. Since they have no previous Hollywood

00:36experience, they are expected to find a new CEO to oversee the business.

00:40In a memo they sent in May to reassure the remaining TWC employees, the Lantern partner said,

00:45Lantern shares a deep appreciation for entertainment and all creative arts. It is our responsibility

00:50to protect the years of hard work and dedication contained within the Weinstein Company's

00:54film and television libraries. The Weinsteins first set up the Weinstein Company with a

00:58$1.2 billion war chest in 2005, hoping to duplicate and even exceed the success they enjoyed

01:03with Miramax, the company they created in 1979 and sold to Disney in 1993 for $60 million.

01:08The brothers came to object to the controls that Disney attempted to exert over both budgets

01:13and content, with Harvey financing Michael Moore's 2004 documentary Fahrenheit 9-11 against the wishes

01:19of then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner. In 2005, the Weinsteins reached a $130 million settlement

01:25and left Disney behind, taking a number of films like Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill with them.

01:29In 2010, TWC averted bankruptcy by working out a major restructuring with Goldman Sachs.

01:34Harvey Weinstein vowed to refocus his energies on the film business after stints in investing

01:39in fashion, tech and Broadway. Over the years, TWC produced a number of hits, including

01:43Tarantino's 2012 Django Unchained, which grossed $425 million worldwide, 2010's The King's

01:49Speech, which made $414 million, Tarantino's 2009 and Glorious Bastards, which took in $321

01:54million and 2012 Silver Linings Playbook, which grossed $236 million, to name just a few.

02:00However, the company also released dozens of films to negligible returns, while simply shelving

02:05many others. Between their time at Miramax and TWC, the Weinsteins have claimed 341 Oscar

02:11nominations and 81 Academy Award wins. But even before the sexual harassment scandal broke,

02:16Harvey Weinstein's golden touch was beginning to fade. When the nominations for the 88th

02:20Oscars were announced in 2016, TWC collected 10 mentions for Carol and The Hateful Eight,

02:25but no Best Picture or Director nominations. And while the list of 2017 nominations saw

02:30Lion score six nominations, including Best Picture, the company's other awards hoped for,

02:34the founder, was shut out. Now, it will all be up to Lantern and the leadership it appoints

02:39to pick up the pieces. There are a number of unreleased films that have been stuck in limbo,

02:43the period drama The Current War, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, the biblical tale Mary Magdalene,

02:48starring Rooney Mara, the odd couple comedy The Untouchables, starring Kevin Hart and Bryan

02:52Cranston, and Hotel Mumbai, starring Armie Hammer and Def Patel, that could be sold off to

02:57other distributors. To read more on this story, head to THR.com. For The Hollywood Reporter News,

03:02I'm Lyndsey Rodrigues.