Netflix, Miramax Ink Streaming Deal

16 May, 2011 By: Erik Gruenwedel

Vaunted studio’s movie catalog set to begin streaming in June

Netflix May 16 said it signed a multiyear distribution deal with Miramax that will allow its 23 million subscribers to stream hundreds of Miramax titles beginning next month.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"Existing relationships with management and a shared affinity for these great films make this an important deal for both companies and for our members, who will enjoy instantly watching movies from one of the truly great film libraries for many years to come,” said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer with Netflix.

The Netflix library gains a variety of films that collectively have 284 Academy Award nominations, across 83 films, with 68 wins, including the Best Picture winners The English Patient and Shakespeare in Love. Iconic titles such as Bad Santa, Chasing Amy, Cinema Paradiso, Clerks, Cold Mountain, From Dusk Till Dawn, Good Will Hunting, Kill Bill Volume I and II, Muriel's Wedding, The Piano, Pulp Fiction, Reindeer Games and many of the "Halloween," "Scary Movie," "Scream" and "Spy Kids" movies will be available in the future.

Many of Miramax's 700 titles have been available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc to Netflix members for years.

“From day one, we've been very clear about the importance of digital and our desire to respond to the significant pent-up demand for our films — delivering to consumers whenever and wherever they want,” said Mike Lang, CEO of Miramax. “This agreement is an important first step in our digital strategy. Netflix has always been a trailblazer, with a tremendous track record of innovation and quality customer service.”

Indeed, since its acquisition last year by an investor group from The Walt Disney Co., Miramax has aggressively inked North American and European distribution deals for its catalog.

Last month Lionsgate took retail control (including transactional VOD and electronic sellthrough) of about 550 titles beginning March 15 with The Switch and Scream, Scream 2 and Scream 3 March 29 — the latter three coincided with the Scream 4 theatrical release April 15 by The Weinstein Co.

Separately, Miramax signed similar retail deals with a Canadian distributor and Echo Bridge Entertainment — the latter including about 250 lesser known catalog titles.

Miramax also has a distribution deal with former owners Bob and Harvey Weinstein that includes home entertainment distribution of planned sequels of such films as Clerks, From Dusk Till Dawn, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Copland, Shall We Dance, Swingers and The Amityville Horror, among others, by The Weinstein Co.

“Our goal at Miramax is to work with the right partners to fully maximize every asset in our extraordinary film catalog across all platforms,” Lang said at the time.

 

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