Bob Weinstein

Robert Weinstein (born October 18, 1954) is an American film producer. He is the founder and head of Dimension Films, former co-chairman of Lantern Entertainment, Miramax Films, and The Weinstein Company, all of which he co-founded with his estranged brother, Harvey. He has focused on making commercially successful action and horror films.[4]

Bob Weinstein
Born
Robert Weinstein

(1954-10-18) October 18, 1954
Occupation
  • Film producer
  • director
  • writer
  • businessman
Years active1979–present
Spouse(s)
Anne Clayton
(m. 2000; div. 2012)
Children4
Parents
  • Max Weinstein (father)
  • Miriam Postel (mother)
RelativesHarvey Weinstein (brother)
Notes

Early life

Weinstein was born in Flushing, New York. He was raised in an Ashkenazi Jewish family.[5][6] His parents were Max Weinstein, a diamond cutter,[7] and Miriam (née Postel).[7][8] He grew up with his older brother, Harvey Weinstein, in a housing co-op named Electchester in New York City.[9] and attended John Bowne High School like his older brother.[10]

Career

Bob, his brother Harvey Weinstein, and Corky Burger independently produced rock concerts as Harvey & Corky Productions in Buffalo through most of the 1970s.[9][11] Both Weinstein brothers had grown up with a passion for movies, and they nurtured a desire to enter the film industry.

In the late 1970s, using profits from their concert promotion business, the brothers created a small independent film distribution company called Miramax, named after their parents – Miriam and Max. The company's first releases were primarily music-oriented concert films, such as Paul McCartney's Rockshow. In the early 1980s, Miramax acquired the rights to two British films of benefit shows filmed for the human rights organization Amnesty International. Working closely with Martin Lewis, the producer of the original films, the Weinstein brothers edited the two films into one movie tailored for the American market. The resulting film, released as The Secret Policeman's Other Ball in May 1982, became Miramax's first hit. The movie raised considerable sums for Amnesty International and was credited by Amnesty with having helped to raise its profile in the US.

The Weinsteins slowly built upon this success throughout the 1980s with arthouse films that achieved critical attention and modest commercial success. Harvey Weinstein and Miramax gained wider attention in 1988 with the release of Errol Morris' documentary The Thin Blue Line, which detailed the struggle of Randall Adams, a wrongfully convicted inmate sentenced to death row. The publicity that soon surrounded the case resulted in Adams' release and nationwide publicity for Miramax. The following year, their successful launch release of Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape propelled Miramax to become the most successful independent studio in America.

Miramax continued to grow its library of films and directors until, in 1993, Disney offered Harvey and Bob $80 million for ownership of Miramax. Agreeing to the deal that would cement their Hollywood clout and ensure that they would remain at the head of their company, Miramax followed the next year with their first blockbuster, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.

1996 brought Miramax's first Academy Award for Best Picture with the victory of The English Patient. This would start a string of critical successes that would include Shakespeare in Love and Good Will Hunting.

On March 29, 2005, it was announced that the Weinstein brothers would leave Miramax on September 30 and would form their own production company, The Weinstein Company.[12] Five years later, in 2010, Disney sold Miramax to the Qatari group Filmyard Holdings, who in turn sold it to another Qatari entity, the beIN Media Group, in 2016.

On December 4, 2017, Bob Weinstein filed a trademark application for Watch This Entertainment.[13] Almost two years later, Weinstein announced his new production company to the world, with a focus on "family films, comedies and upscale adult thrillers", and a first project of an animated feature titled Endangered, with Téa Leoni serving as co-producer and voicing a lead character.[14]

Personal life

Weinstein has been married and divorced twice. He has two daughters, Sara and Nicole, from his first marriage. Weinstein married Anne Clayton, a former book editor, in 2000. They have two children, Lucy and Jacob. and lived in a large apartment in The Beresford at 7 West 81st Street on the Upper West Side.

Anne filed for divorce in April 2012, and sought a protective order because she feared "bodily harm".[4] Weinstein issued a statement from Don Sloane, a Washington-based interventionist who denied that Weinstein was a danger to his wife, and who said that Anne was reacting to a family intervention conducted to address her alcoholism.[4] Anne's lawyers denied that their client suffered from any addiction, and said that Sloane's statement was from Weinstein's paid agent, who had never met Anne Weinstein.[4]

In October 2017, he talked about his estranged brother Harvey Weinstein and the allegations of sexual harassment, abuse, and rape against him and called his brother "wicked and depraved". In the interview, Bob denied knowing about any of the allegations against his brother, but acknowledged that Harvey had a history of extramarital affairs and verbal abuse towards family members.[15]

Selected filmography

Executive producer

Year Film Notes
1989 Scandal Co-executive producer
The Lemon Sisters Co-executive producer
1990 Hardware
Strike It Rich
Crossing the Line Co-executive producer
1991 A Rage in Harlem
The Pope Must Diet!
1992 Dust Devil Co-executive producer
Into the West Co-executive producer
1993 Benefit of the Doubt
The Night We Never Met
True Romance
The Hour of the Pig
Map of the Human Heart
1994 Mother's Boys
Pulp Fiction Co-executive producer
Prêt-à-Porter
1995 Smoke
The Englishman who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain
Blue in the Face
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead
A Month by the Lake
The Journey of August King
The Crossing Guard
1996 Beautiful Girls
The English Patient
Flirting with Disaster
The Pallbearer
Scream
Jane Eyre
The Crow: City of Angels
Emma
The Last of the High Kings
Victory Co-executive producer
1997 Addicted to Love
Nightwatch
She's So Lovely
Jackie Brown
Good Will Hunting
Cop Land
The Wings of the Dove
Princess Mononoke English-language version
Scream 2
Air Bud
1998 A Price Above Rubies
Phantoms
Senseless
Wide Awake
Ride
Since You've Been Gone TV film
The Mighty
Velvet Goldmine
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
54
Rounders
Little Voice Co-executive producer
Talk of Angels
B. Monkey Co-executive producer
The Faculty
Playing by Heart
Shakespeare in Love
1999 Guinevere
She's All That
My Life So Far
Teaching Mrs. Tingle
Outside Providence
In Too Deep
Mansfield Park
Holy Smoke!
Music of the Heart
The Cider House Rules
2000 The Crow: Salvation
Down to You
Scream 3
Love's Labour's Lost
Committed
Scary Movie
Chocolat
The Yards
Bounce
Dracula 2000
Malèna
2001 The Others
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Film credit only, was not involved in actual film
Iris
The Shipping News
Spy Kids
Texas Rangers
Scary Movie 2
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
2002 Chicago
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Film credit only, was not involved in actual film
Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams
Below
Waking Up in Reno
Equilibrium
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Gangs of New York
2003 Cold Mountain
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Film credit only, was not involved in actual film
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over
My Boss's Daughter
Duplex
Scary Movie 3
The Human Stain
Kill Bill: Volume 1
2004 Jersey Girl
Ella Enchanted
Fahrenheit 9/11
The Aviator
Finding Neverland
Shall We Dance?
Kill Bill: Volume 2
2005 Sin City
Cursed
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl
The Brothers Grimm
Underclassman
Proof
Derailed
2006 Clerks II
Scary Movie 4
Pulse
Breaking and Entering
Miss Potter
School for Scoundrels
2007 Grindhouse
The Mist
Rogue
Sicko
Halloween
Awake
1408
Who's Your Caddy?
The Nanny Diaries
2008 Superhero Movie
Rambo
The Reader
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Soul Men
2009 Inglourious Basterds
Fanboys
Halloween II
Capitalism: A Love Story
Nine
2010 Piranha 3D
The King's Speech
The Fighter
2011 The Artist
Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil
Scream 4
Spy Kids: All the Time in the World
Apollo 18
Butter
I Don't Know How She Does It
My Week with Marilyn
2012 Piranha 3DD
Silver Linings Playbook
Django Unchained
2013 Escape from Planet Earth
Scary Movie 5
Lee Daniels' The Butler
August: Osage County
One Chance
Fruitvale Station
2014 Vampire Academy
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
Paddington
Big Eyes
Marco Polo
2015 Woman in Gold
Southpaw
Carol
Macbeth
Burnt
The Hateful Eight
2016 Sing Street
War & Peace
Lion
The Founder
Gold
2017 Wind River
47 Meters Down
Amityville: The Awakening
Tulip Fever
Chandra Levy: An American Murder Mystery
The Current War
2018 Hellraiser: Judgment
Children of the Corn: Runaway
Spy Kids: Mission Critical

Producer

Director

  • Playing for Keeps (1986)

Writer

Broadway credits

Note: In all productions Weinstein has functioned as a co-producer with other producers.

References

  1. "Bob Weinstein profile". cityfile.com. Archived from the original on April 29, 2011.
  2. "Bob Weinstein Biography". fandango.com. Archived from the original on May 7, 2016.
  3. Weniger, Kay (2001). Das große Personenlexikon des Films. ISBN 3-89602-340-3.
  4. Ross, Barbara (April 6, 2012). "Film producer Robert Weinstein's wife files for divorce, seeks order of protection". New York Daily News. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  5. Lurie, Rod. "Harvey Weinstein Gets My Criticism of "The Reader" Wrong" The Wrap. February 21, 2009
  6. Renee, Ghert-Zand (March 6, 2012). "Weinstein Awarded French Legion of Honor". The Jewish Daily Forward.
  7. Gates, Anita (November 3, 2016). "Miriam Weinstein, Mother and Backbone of Original Miramax, Dies at 90". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  8. Weinstein, Bob (February 7, 2011). "All Thanks to Max". Vanity Fair. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  9. Biskind, Peter (2004). Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance and the Rise of Independent Film. Simon & Schuster. pp. 463–464. ISBN 0-684-86259-X.
  10. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/young-harvey-weinstein-signed-a-high-school-yearbook-new-york-state-prison-1089208
  11. Mason, Ian Garrick (October 11, 2004). "When Harvey met Mickey". New Statesman. Retrieved January 11, 2007.
  12. Indiewire; Indiewire (March 30, 2005). "Weinstein's Leaving Miramax, Will Form New Company; Brothers Taking Dimension Label, Leaving All Fil".
  13. "WATCH THIS ENTERTAINMENT - Trademark Details". JUSTIA Trademarks. Justia. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  14. Sperling, Nicole (October 12, 2019). "Bob Weinstein, Brother of Disgraced Mogul, Starts New Production Company". The New York Times. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  15. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bob-weinstein-gets-emotional-depraved-harvey-saving-company-his-waking-nightmare-1048905
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