How screwed is the Weinstein Company financially? We won’t pretend like we know anything about finance, but it’s just not looking good from any kind of perspective in the press. Plus you don’t need to read Forbes every month to figure out they’re in full-on crisis mode.
Late Friday — a pretty telling way to release any information you want buried – the Wall Street Journal revealed TWC had hired financial adviser Miller Buckfire & Co., LLC to explore possible restructuring or refinancing for the company’s mounting debts. Even “restructuring,” a nice little euphemism, does not sound good at all.
“They will allow us to expand our animation business, while remaining focused on our other core entertainment assets in movies, television, theater and books,” TWC said in a statement. Tellingly, the NYTimes‘ request to interview either Weinstein brother this weekend was declined.
But as Movieline points out via Deadline Hollywood, “You don’t hire Miller Buckfire to raise money. You hire Miller Buckfire because they are one of top restructuring experts in the country. They currently represent several top institutions going through bankruptcy.” The Times agrees and says the move “signals a more than routine push to reboot the Weinstein operation.”
Deadline Hollywood said the company could go out of debt by August, the month Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” is supposed to come out (August 21). The film is being touted as some as the company’s salvation, but as Jeff Wells said (and we’d agree with having seen the film), “‘Basterds’ is no bonanza-waiting-to-happen.” Rob Zombie’s ““Halloween 2” could help the bleeding a bit too, but that’s also August.
Wells himself, like many, note that Rob Marshall’s “Nine,” could be the company’s savior, but with that film not hitting til December, will it be too late? However, As Movieline points out, TWC and Harvey Weinstein in particular are the masters of surviving on fumes and maybe these “restructuring” bail-out loans (if that’s what they indeed turn out to be, but the bottom line is they need cash) can help until then. Still, thing seem very precarious which is why the rumors of lesser films like, “Youth In Revolt,” being shelved sound more and more plausible.
As the Times notes, “If Miller Buckfire is looking for new capital, it will be fishing in waters that lately have been difficult for all but the biggest studios.” No matter how you slice it, things are not looking good. One also has to ask if TWC does go kaput before the end of the year. What happens to those pictures? Universal will handle ‘Basterds’ either way, but will the other film’s be sold off to other studios? What about pictures set for release in2010? Will they go under or find financing elsewhere? Stay tuned, but in case anyone is wondering, no schadenfreude here. If this happens. it’s bad for the film industry at large. These guys’ practices are certainly dubious to be sure, but they’re still plucky moguls that have undeniable shepherded in a panoply of great and interesting films over the years dating all the way back to Miramax when they ruled the ’90s.
