The effects of DIck Cook stepping down as the head of Disney Studios are already being felt with the news that its speciality unit, Miramax, is being drastically downsized, so that it will probably only release around three films a year, instead of an average of eight. The number of staff is also likely to be cut from around 80, to only 20.
Cook had been a fierce advocate of Miramax, seeing it as a good way to find new filmmakers and to make sure Disney still produced prestige movies. However it’s never been very profitable and it’s now one of the few speciality divisions of a major studio left, as most other studios have either shut theit indie labels down completely or absorbed them into their main business.
Many had thought that with Cook gone, Miramax’s days would be numbered, but while it is being drastically downsized, it has survived. However it does show that while only a few years ago the studios were very excited about moving into the ‘indie’ film business, none of them has been able to make it particularly profitable and they’re now stepping away from smaller indie-type projects, which will undoubtedly change the landscape of independent film.