Bob, his brother
Harvey Weinstein, and Corky Burger independently produced rock concerts as Harvey & Corky Productions in
Buffalo through most of the 1970s. 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 Films, 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 Films 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 United States. 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 Films gained wider attention in 1988 with the release of
Errol Morris's 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 Films. The following year, their successful launch release of
Steven Soderbergh's
Sex, Lies, and Videotape propelled Miramax Films to become the most successful independent studio in America. Miramax Films continued to grow its library of films and directors until 1993 when
Disney offered Harvey and Bob $80 million for ownership of Miramax Films. Agreeing to the deal that would cement their Hollywood clout and ensure that they would remain at the head of their company, Miramax Films followed the next year with their first blockbuster,
Quentin Tarantino's
Pulp Fiction. 1996 brought Miramax Films'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
Good Will Hunting and
Shakespeare in Love. On March 29, 2005, it was announced that the Weinstein brothers would leave Miramax Films on September 30 and would form their own production company,
The Weinstein Company (TWC). Five years later, in 2010, Disney sold Miramax Films to private equity firm
Filmyard Holdings (a joint venture between
Colony Capital,
Tutor-Saliba Corporation and
Qatar Investment Authority). Filmyard in turn sold it to Qatari entity
beIN Media Group in 2016, who later sold a 49% stake to
ViacomCBS (now known as
Paramount Skydance). On December 4, 2017, Bob Weinstein filed a trademark application for Watch This Entertainment. Almost two years later, on October 12, 2019, 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. No news has been heard since that announcement, however. == Personal life ==