Before being known around the world as a convicted sex offender. Harvey Weinstein was a powerful force in Hollywood. He was one of the top producers in the industry and his production company Miramax was the home of many Oscar-winning films. The company was unstoppable in the 90s with many back-to-back hits.
Films like Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare in Love, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Good Will Hunting, and many others proved to be seminal hits for the company. However, he left Miramax in 2005 and established The Weinstein Company. Despite its amazing reputation as a production company, it also faced some huge disasters throughout the years.
Despite its Great Reputation, The Weinstein Company Faced Some Massive Box Office Flops
Harvey Weinstein‘s production company Miramax is behind some of the most groundbreaking and influential films over the years. Over the decades, no company has come close to the level of Oscar wins that Miramax and accumulated over the years. Later, Weinstein created The Weinstein Company, and his success continued in the industry.
However, everyone has a bad day at the office and Weinstein’s powers and influence did not always generate hits and accolades. Here are 5 of his company’s biggest flops, despite some of them featuring talented A-list actors (via Variety),
1. The Hateful Eight
Quentin Tarantino and Harvey Weinstein have had a great professional relationship over the years as his first five films were under Miramax. Django Unchained and 2015’s The Hateful Eight were distributed by The Weinstein Company. While Django Unchained was a big hit (being the number 1 grosser of the company), the latter did not repeat its success.
The Hateful Eight, which was Tarantino’s own Western starring an ensemble cast led by Tarantino’s regulars Samuel L Jackson, Kurt Russell, Tim Roth, etc underperformed at the box office. The film collected only $54 million domestically against a budget of $44 million.
2. My Week with Marilyn
This 2011 biopic starred Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe and depicted her time when she was shooting the 1957 film The Prince and the Showgirl. The film also starred Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Redmayne, Dominic Cooper, Julia Ormond, Emma Watson, and Judi Dench.
The film was received well by critics and audiences and was among the Oscar contenders of 2011 films. Despite Williams and Branagh both receiving Oscar nominations for their performance, the film only managed to earn $14.6 million against a budget of $10 million.
3. Big Eyes
This 2014 Tum Burton film was a biopic based on the relationship between American artist Margaret Keane and her second husband, Walter Keane played by Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz respectively.
Waltz had won his second Oscar the previous year for Django Unchained and thus, the project had some interest from fans. However, the film underperformed at the box office and turned out to be a flop. It managed to earn only $14.5 million domestically against a budget of $10 million.
4. Burnt
This 2015 film starring Bradley Cooper showed the actor playing a chef who is hell-bent on redemption as he starts working in a well-known restaurant. The project looked promising and Cooper was branching out as an actor after his multiple Oscar-nominated roles.
The film also starred Sienna Miller, Omar Sy, Daniel Brühl, Matthew Rhys, Riccardo Scamarcio, Alicia Vikander, Uma Thurman, and Emma Thompson. However, the film received negative reviews from critics and flopped at the box office. It earned only $13.7 million domestically against a budget of $20 million.
5. Sing Street
This 2016 coming-of-age musical drama starred Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Lucy Boynton, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Aidan Gillen, Jack Reynor, and Kelly Thornton. The John Carney-directed film showed a group of young Irish boys coming together to star in a band in the 1980s.
The film was universally well-received and even received a Golden Globe nomination. However, it bombed at the box office, grossing only $3.2 million against a budget of $4 million.
