Sharon Waxman over at The Wrap has written another doomsday piece about the Weinstein Company, the type that were pretty prevalent last year when “The Reader” was threatening to be a nonstarter. Essentially, there are whispers that the Weinsteins have run through their entire $1.2 billion loan given to them at the start of their company, without a single real hit movie to show for it. Rumors suggest it’s gotten so bad that the company, currently debuting their pricey co-production at Cannes “Inglorious Basterds,” might not have enough capital to promote and release the shelved Michael Cera comedy “Youth In Revolt.”
Are these predictions premature? On one level, the Weinsteins did end up profiting nicely from “The Reader”‘s Oscar run, and they’re poised to score a big hit this fall with the musical “Nine,” the trailer debut of which earlier this week struck some as strategic in order to curb these end-of-days predictions. And while many point to the company losing a whole lot of dough over “Grindhouse,” the decision to split the movies in two for DVD release has to in some way brought back a serious return on what was probably a questionable commercial endeavor.
But then there are the non-academic theories- how much did it cost to get “The Reader” into the awards circle for its dubious run? Why did “Nine” cost $85 million when the trailer made the Broadway adaptation look like it was filmed entirely on the same two sets? Why does stuff like “Youth In Revolt,” an interesting adaptation of the popular YA novel from Miguel Arteta (“The Good Girl”), and Mickael Hafstrom’s “Shanghai” languish on their schedule with no release date? And is there any truth to the rumor that “Sin City 2” was being shopped by the cash-strapped brothers?
Whatever it is, the Weinsteins still look to be in better shape than they were at this time last year. Their much-troubled adaptation of “The Road” recently debuted a cynical cash-grab of a trailer geared towards the cheap seats, but it remains a popular book with more than its share of fans, while potential genre hits like “Basterds” and “Halloween 2” loom on the horizon, with “Nine” most likely a big awards candidate. And the Weinstein Company had enough cheddar to acquire the rights to the soon-to-shoot drama “The Fighter,” a boxing drama with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale from director David O. Russell. Then again, none of these are sure things, and the failure of August’s release of “Basterds,” some feel, might doom the company and cripple the fall release slate. In the past year, this happened to the prestigious, promising Yari Group, which stranded a couple of middle-profile releases in direct-to-DVD limbo, but the Weinsteins, sly dogs they are, surely have a Hail Mary up their sleeve, right? We’d assume it’s not Russell, who, last we checked, had some difficult finishing movies of his own.