Weintraub Entertainment Group

Weintraub Entertainment Group was formed on July 1, 1986 by Jerry Weintraub.[3] In February 1987, WEG received $461 million in financing from Columbia Pictures, Cineplex Odeon and others in the form of securities, bank loans and advances.[1] The Coca-Cola Company and US Tobacco Company were principal investors.[3] WEG also arranged a $145-million, 7-year credit line with the Bank of America. WEG also signed a 20-year distribution deal with Columbia and planned to release seven or eight movies per year.[1]

In March 1987, WEG signed its first production and distribution deal, a three-year agreement with Robert Stigwood's RSO Films for multiple films budgeted in the $12-million to $15-million range.[5] With Stigwood's partnership, WEG was to finance a film version of Evita with Oliver Stone as writer/director and Meryl Streep as Eva Perón. However, the studio dropped the project.[6]

WEG purchased from The Cannon Group in May 1987 its 2,000-title British film library,[7] the Thorn-EMI Screen Entertainment library, for $85 million with $50 million from a loan.[1] On July 20, Harry Usher joined the Group as President of the Weintraub International Enterprises division and as a senior vice president.[8]

In January 1988, Barney Rosenzweig was hired as chairman of the television unit, corporate vice president and a member of the executive committee.[9] In July, the Bank of America terminated its credit line with Weintraub after difficulties in syndicating parts of the loan to other banks due to the Thorn-EMI loan.[1] The Group's first release was The Big Blue in August; it grossed $1.6 million the opening weekend.[10]

In January 1989, Usher left his position as President of the Weintraub International Enterprises.[11] The Bank of America and WEG established a new credit line for two years and $95 million with Credit Lyonnais participating.[1]

In 1989, as a result of Sony/Columbia hiring Peter Guber and Jon Peters away from Warner Bros., Sony/Columbia traded its 15% share in WEG.[4]

In September 1990, WEG filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Later that month, Jerry Weintraub left the company and forged a deal with Warner Bros., while Columbia still remained indebted to releasing WEG films.[12]

Film Asset Holding Co., a company formed by WEG's two primary bank creditors, sued Weintraub over his structuring of a sale of the Peter Pan story to Sony Pictures Entertainment in the fall of 1990. Weintraub and Film Assets settled in January 1992.[13]

In August 1998, a jury verdict for $7 million was lost by Bear Stearns Cos. to investors who had been misled by the brokerage's $83 million bond issue prospectus for the now-bankrupt Weintraub Entertainment Group.[14]

• The Big Blue (1988): distribution rights, $3 million
• Fresh Horses (1988): first original production, grossed only $7 million
• My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988): $26 million budget, grossed $13.8 million
• The Karen Carpenter Story (1989): a TV movie release on CBS[1]
• Listen to Me (1989)
• She's Out of Control (1989)
• Troop Beverly Hills (1989)
• The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1989)

Since Sony Pictures Entertainment owns its rights to their films, Paramount Television handles TV and digital rights to the films with Trifecta Entertainment & Media until the ViacomCBS merger.

• Weintraub Entertainment Group at IMDb