Miramax Films is dying. The onetime Oscar darling, which produced best picture nominees for 12 straight years, didn't win a single Academy Award last year. This year it didn't warrant a nomination. And in January, Disney ceased Miramax's independent administrative, marketing, and distribution functions and closed its offices in New York and Los Angeles.
It's a shocking fall for the studio, a decline that can teach us a lot about innovation and about the way in which companies inadvertently drive out that which they so desperately seek. Executives all want more innovation. They also do all they can to kill it.
Disney bought Miramax in 1993, when the upstart producer and distributor had a few word-of-mouth hits such as "The Crying Game" and "Sex, Lies and Videotape" to its credit. Disney provided some much-needed cash and stability, while Miramax founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein provided the innovation. The combination worked. On the strength of Disney's money and Harvey's legendary golden gut, Miramax became one of the most influential studios in Hollywood.
