Miramax Films Celebrates 25th Anniversary

Miramax Films Celebrates 25th Anniversary Film Company Leads Golden Globe Film Nominations with 15 Academy-Award winning Director Quentin Tarantino to Host Special On-Stage Discussion with Bob and Harvey Weinstein to Kick Off 50 Film MoMA Retrospective NEW YORK, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- On the eve of the Museum of Modern Art's kick-off celebration for the retrospective honoring Miramax Films' twenty- fifth year anniversary this Thursday, December 16th, Miramax Films today received a total of 15 overall Golden Globe nominations, the most for any studio, including Best Picture nominations for "The Aviator" and "Finding Neverland," and a Best Foreign Language Film nomination for "The Chorus." The Golden Globe nominations are expected to boost the Company's box office prospects for 2005 with Martin Scorsese's highly anticipated film The Aviator (six Golden Globe nominations) opening later this month and Finding Neverland (five Golden Globe nominations) continuing to expand into additional markets. Upcoming releases for the remainder of 2004 and early 2005 include Dimension's thriller Darkness on December 25, the Bruce Willis starrer Hostage on January 21, Bride & Prejudice on February 11, Wes Craven's Cursed on February 25, Robert Rodriguez' Sin City on April 1 and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D, a family film also directed by Robert Rodriguez In addition, Miramax International has set a new record for the Company with international box office receipts for 2004 generating close to $560 million on a slate of 38 movies. With over three weeks remaining in the calendar year, including the Christmas holiday, this year's strong performance already breaks last year's record of $508 million on 47 movies. The most significant contributions to the International box office success this year include: Scary Movie 3; Kill Bill 2; Starsky & Hutch; Cold Mountain; Shall We Dance; Spy Kids 3D; Master & Commander; Hero and early UK numbers from Finding Neverland. This Thursday, December 16, 2004, MoMA will kick off a film retrospective to honor Miramax Film's 25-year history. The evening will begin with a special on-stage discussion between Miramax co-founders and co-chairmen Bob and Harvey Weinstein and Academy-Award winning director Quentin Tarantino followed by a screening of Tarantino's first feature film "Reservoir Dogs." Following the kick off event, the Museum will mount a retrospective featuring the extraordinary body of work from Miramax and Dimension Films, and saluting the contributions of the Bob and Harvey Weinstein. Miramax Films will make a gift to The Museum of Modern Art of fifteen 35mm feature films chosen by the Department of Film and Media. Miramax's fifteen Golden Globe nominations include six for The Aviator [Best Picture (Drama), Best Director for Martin Scorsese, Best Screenplay for John Logan, Best Actor (Drama) for Leonardo DiCaprio, Best Supporting Actress (Drama) for Cate Blanchett, and Best Original Score by Howard Shore], five nominations for Finding Neverland [Best Picture (Drama), Best Director for Marc Forster, Best Screenplay for David Magee, Best Actor (Drama) for Johnny Depp, Best Original Score by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek], two for Kill Bill Vol. 2 [Best Actress (Drama) for Uma Thurman and Best Supporting Actor (Drama) for David Carradine], Best Foreign Language Film for The Chorus, and Best Actress (Musical or Comedy) for Renee Zellweger's performance in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. The retrospective will be held in two phases, in the winter and summer of 2005, and will feature a selection of fifty significant films that have been distributed and/or produced by Miramax and its division, Dimension. The titles to be shown include: Amelie (Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001), Bad Santa (Directed by Terry Zwigoff, 2003), Barbarian Invasions (Directed by Denys Arcand, 2003), Krzysztof Kieslowski's Blue (1993), White (1994) and Red (1994), Bullets Over Broadway (Directed by Woody Allen, 1994), Chicago (Directed by Rob Marshall, 2002), The Chorus (Les Choristes) (Directed by Christophe Barratier, 2004), Chunking Express (Directed by Wong Kar Wai, 1994), Cider House Rules (Directed by Lasse Hallstrom, 1999), Cinema Paradiso (Directed Giuseppe Tornatore, 1989), City of God (Directed by Katia Lund and Fernando Meirelles, 2002), Clerks (Directed by Kevin Smith, 1994), The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (Directed by Peter Greenaway, 1989), The Crying Game (Directed by Neil Jordan, 1992), Dead Man (Directed by Jim Jarmusch, 1995), Dirty Pretty Things (Directed by Stephen Frears, 2002), English Patient (Directed by Anthony Minghella, 1996), Exotica (Directed by Atom Egoyan, 1994), Farewell My Concubine (Directed by Kaige Chen, 1993), From Dusk Til Dawn (Directed by Robert Rodriguez, 1996), Gangs of New York (Directed by Martin Scorsese, 2002), Good Will Hunting (Directed by Gus Van Sant, 1997), The Grifters (Directed by Stephen Frears, 1990), Heavenly Creatures (Directed by Peter Jackson, 1994), Holy Smoke (Directed by Jane Campion, 1999), I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (Directed Patricia Rozema, 1987), Il Postino (Directed by Michael Radford, 1994), In the Bedroom (Directed by Todd Field, 2001), Jackie Brown (Directed by Quentin Tarantino, 1997), Ju Dou (Directed by Yeng Fengliang and Yimou Zhang, 1990), Life is Beautiful (Directed by Roberto Benigni, 1997), Like Water For Chocolate (Directed by Alfanso Arau, 1992), Mimic (Directed by Guillermo del Toro, 1997), My Left Foot (Directed by Jim Sheridan, 1989), The Others (Directed by Alejandro Amenabar, 2001), Paris is Burning (Directed by Jennie Livingston, 1990), The Piano (Directed by Jane Campion, 1993), Priest (Directed by Jane Campion, 1994), Princess Mononoke (Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, 1997), Pulp Fiction (Directed Quentin Tarantino, 1994), Scary Movie (Directed Keenen Ivory Wayans, 2000), Scream (Directed by Wes Craven, 1996), Shakespeare in Love (Directed by John Madden, 1998), Shall We Dance (Directed by Masayuki Suo, 1996), Sling Blade (Directed by Billy Bob Thornton, 1992), Spy Kids (Directed by Robert Rodriguez, 2001), Strictly Ballroom (Directed by Baz Luhrmann, 1992), Swingers (Directed by Doug Liman, 1996), Through the Olive Trees (Directed by Abbas Kiarostami, 1994), and Trainspotting (Directed by Danny Boyle, 1996) ABOUT MIRAMAX FILMS Miramax Films, founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 1979, has released some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful independent feature films of the past decade, including fourteen Best Picture nominations over a span of the past twelve years: Chicago, Gangs of New York, The Hours, In the Bedroom, Chocolat, The Cider House Rules, Shakespeare In Love, Life Is Beautiful (La Vita E Bella), Good Will Hunting, The English Patient, Il Postino (The Postman), Pulp Fiction, The Piano and The Crying Game. The outstanding quality of Miramax's films is represented in the company's success in the annual Academy Awards race. In its history, Miramax has received 229 Academy Award nominations and has won 54 Academy Awards. Miramax's commitment to cinema from around the world is evident in its history of releases. Miramax has received 23 Best Foreign Language Film nominations over the past 16 years. Some of the nominated films, among other foreign releases, include: The Barbarian Invasions (Canada), Twin Sisters, Hero (China), Amelie (France) Taste of Others (France), Everybody Famous (Belgium), Life is Beautiful (Italy), Children of Heaven (Iran), Four Days in September (Brazil), Beyond Silence (Germany), Kolya (Czech Republic), Ridicule (France), The Star Maker (Italy), Strawberry and Chocolate (Cuba/Mexico), Farewell My Concubine (China/Hong Kong), Mediterraneo (Italy), Ju Dou (China/Japan), The Nasty Girl (Germany), Cinema Paradiso (Italy), Pelle the Conqueror (Denmark/Sweden), Like Water for Chocolate (Mexico), French Twist (France), Red (France), White (Poland) and Blue (Switzerland), among many, many others. ABOUT DIMENSION FILMS Dimension Films, a subdivision of Miramax founded in 1994, is committed to producing science fiction, thriller, action, and horror genre films. The company's successful slate of releases include the "Scary Movie" franchise, "Bad Santa," "The Others," Robert Rodriguez' "Spy Kids" trilogy, Wes Craven's "Scream" trilogy, "Halloween: H2O," "The Crow," and Rodriguez' and Quentin Tarantino's "From Dusk Till Dawn." Source: Miramax CONTACT: Matthew Hiltzik, +1-212-941-3883, or Sarah Levinson, +1-212-941-3875, both of Miramax Web site: http://www.miramax.com/ NOTE TO EDITORS: A reel highlighting the past 25 years of Miramax and Dimension films is available. Please call Sarah Levinson at 212-941-3875 for more information. ------- Profile: International Entertainment