It’s never been a good idea to declare Harvey Weinstein dead -- he has a tendency to rise from the beyond.
On Tuesday, Weinstein proved that he is quite definitely reborn, buying with his brother Bob 25 percent of Starz Media in order to ensure a home entertainment deal with their Anchor Bay division, and scooping up Producers Guild nominations for "The King's Speech" and "The Tillman Story."
But beyond those momentary milestones, the movie mogul is back in the groove that once made him famous – cutting trailers, reading scripts, hanging around on movie sets – he even skipped the White House Christmas party to hunker down for “The King’s Speech” release.
“You can’t recreate it, but this is as close to Miramax as it’s ever been,” said Weinstein, in an interview with TheWrap. “I’m 100 percent focused on movies. I don’t think outside the box. 
I’m loving playing in the box.
Read the full interview: Harvey Weinstein Grilled -- "I'm Loving Playing Inside the Box"
After restructuring $450 million in debt this summer in the wake of a failed, five-year effort to build a multimedia empire, Weinstein and his brother Bob are now focused on a smaller, core business at which they unequivocally excel: making independent films.
Since this summer’s refinancing, the studio has surged forward on a number of fronts, racking up deals even as they gain momentum in this awards season.
>> The studio has four movies in production -- including Oscar bait for 2011, “My Week With Marilyn,” starring Michelle Williams -- and is on track to produce eight movies this year, and acquire another four or five. (See box)
>> TWC has agreed to make sequels of Miramax movies with the arthouse library’s new owner, Ron Tutor’s FilmYard Holdings, starting with “Swingers,” “Amityville Horror” and “Bad Santa.”
>> TWC has signed a deal to market and distribute two films a year with billionaire Len Blavatnik from a $100 million film fund.
>> To top it all off, Weinstein managed to overturn an NC-17 rating for “Blue Valentine” in an impassioned personal appeal before the the MPAA.
The one sour note was losing the Miramax purchase to Ron Tutor and Colony Capital for a $663 million sale price, but Weinstein even sees this as a glass half-full:
“After that sale I can honestly say I did nothing wrong at Miramax,” he said, adding with typical subtlety: “I batted 1000, and Bob batted 1000 too. What the fuck did we do wrong?”
Maybe the independent movie mogul hasn’t changed all that much.
But he has shifted his strategy enough to pull his studio from what by all accounts was the brink of financial ruin and set it on a more solid course.
