After leaving Miramax in 2005, Bob and Harvey Weinstein have signed a twenty-year creative partnership with the company they founded in back in 1979 in a deal that “will span multiple titles for films, TV series and live stage production.” The projects will be financed by Qatar Holding and Colony Capital, coholders of the Miramax library. According to Deadline, the deal is set to begin with sequels to Shakespeare in Love and Rounders, as well as small screen adaptations of Good Will Hunting and Flirting with Disaster. Other projects in development include the Stephen Colbert-scripted comedy The Alibi, as well as The Ninth Life of Louis Drax, which was previously being shepherded by Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack. Miramax also have TV deals in place for Copland, Gangs of New York and From Dusk Till Dawn.
“It’s like unlocking a kingdom full of gold, which [Colony Capital chief Tom Barrack Jr.] describes as diamonds,” said Harvey Weinstein. “In an age where there is so much demand for television, we see a lot of TV series. I personally have never made a sequel, but I will make Shakespeare in Love as one. I’ve always wanted to do that and now we have the impetus to. There is so much intellectual property, and we’re in an age where, for however long it lasts, content is king. I’ve discussed making Rounders 2 with Matt Damon and I would say that’s going to be instantaneous. The guys [writers David Levien and Brian Koppelman] have a great idea, a way to make it more international where you start the card game in Paris, that’s all I want to say. There might be a certain beautiful Parisian actress involved in it, and then we’re off to the racetrack and Vegas with Matty and Edward Norton, and a new supervillain to replace John Malkovich.”