Miramax Films: R.I.P.?

Its stolid logo preceded many of the banner movies of the past couple of decades, but Miramax Films took a major step toward going under last week when Disney decided to close its esteemed New York office and the president, Daniel Battsek, stepped down.

The studio will now distribute just three movies a year, down from as many as eight in recent years. No Country for Old Men and Doubt are among its recent titles.

The distributor, founded in 1979 and acquired by Disney in 1993, was long a titan of the business but now joins vastly scaled-back operations like Paramount Vantage and Picturehouse as casualties of a tough independent marketplace. Although Disney will create a new Los Angeles home for Miramax, most observers argue the news means the studio has essentially been shut down.

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