Weinstein Co Fire Sale: Robert De Niro’s ‘The War With Grandpa’ Sold to Producers for $2.5 Million
According to court documents, TWC unloaded the finished comedy last fall in desperate bid for cash
Thom Geier | March 20, 2018 @ 3:30 PM
Last Updated: March 21, 2018 @ 6:47 AM
The cash-starved Weinstein Company unloaded the completed Robert De Niro family comedy “The War With Grandpa” last November to its producers for $2.5 million, court documents show.
That’s significantly less than the $28.8 million that Warner Bros. paid the company for “Paddington 2,” which went on to gross $40.4 million at the domestic box office. (TWC collected just $13 million of the sale price, with the remainder going to producer Studiocanal.)
It’s also a fraction of the $7.2 million that Warner paid for rights to the still-in-development reboot of “Six Billion Dollar Man.”
An individual familiar with the deal told TheWrap that these prices were in line with minimum guarantees contracted for the films. “Paddington 2” was financed with a minimum guarantee of $20 million to the production, and “The War With Grandpa” had $2.5 million as its minimum guarantee, the individual said.
De Niro’s last grandpa-themed comedy, the Zac Efron road-trip movie “Dirty Grandpa,” grossed $94 million worldwide in 2016.
According to a statement by Robert Del Genio, a senior managing director of FTI Consulting named Monday as TWC’s chief restructuring officer, the Weinstein Company sold “The War With Grandpa” back to its producers, Marro Media Co. on November 23, 2017.
Marro Media was founded by veteran music executives Marvin Peart and Rosa Morris-Peart, whose producing credits include the 2007 comedy “Who’s Your Caddy?” and the VH1 reality TV series “Mob Wives” — both Weinstein productions.
It’s unclear what Marro’s plans are for the film, which has already received a PG rating from the MPAA. Marro representatives did not immediately respond to email requests for comment; the phone number for the company on its website is no longer in service.
According to court filings, TWC “has been largely unable to operate following the public disclosure of the allegations against Harvey Weinstein” — leading to the sale of potential money-making assets such as unreleased but completed films.
“The War With Grandpa,” directed by Tim Hill (“Alvin and the Chipmunks”), stars De Niro as a man who moves in with one of his children, forcing his adoring grandson (Oakes Fegley) out of his room and into the attic — until the young boy plots his revenge to reclaim his old digs.
The film also stars Uma Thurman, Christopher Walken, Rob Riggle and Jane Seymour.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.
A Short History of Harvey Weinstein's Oscar Campaigns (Photos)
Indie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who was fired last October from his position of co-CEO of The Weinstein Company, revolutionized the Oscar race both at TWC and his previous company, Miramax.
Harvey Weinstein first got into the Oscar race in a big way in 1990 with a "guerilla" campaign for the art-house drama "My Left Foot" by setting up meet-and-greets between Academy members and film talent. The result? Oscar wins for stars Daniel Day Lewis and Brenda Fricker.
In 1995, Weinstein mounted a surprisingly aggressive campaign for upstart director Quentin Tarantino's ultraviolent "Pulp Fiction" -- helping to redefine what sorts of movies could appeal to the Academy. Tarantino shared a screenplay Oscar with Roger Avary.
Miramax snagged its first Best Picture victory for 1996's "The English Patient" -- which earned a total of nine awards, including for director Anthony Minghella and lead actress Juliette Binoche.
Weinstein built an awareness campaign for the then-unknown Billy Bob Thornton for 1996's "Sling Blade" -- which yielded an Oscar for his adapted screenplay and a nomination for Best Actor.
Miramax pulled off a double coup with 1997's "Good Will Hunting," delivering Robin Williams his long-awaited first Oscar and a rare screenplay prize for two twentysomething newbies, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
One year later, Miramax pulled out all the stops after landing two Best Picture nominations, including for the Italian-language drama "Life Is Beautiful." According to Peter Biskind's book "Down and Dirty Pictures," star-auteur Roberto Begnini "moved into L.A. for a month during the peak of the voting period." The film came away with three Oscars, including Best Actor.
That year, Miramax pulled off a bigger upset when "Shakespeare in Love" seized Best Picture over Steven Spielberg's heavily favored "Saving Private Ryan." "Shakespeare" won a total of seven Academy Awards, including for actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Judi Dench.
Miramax surprised many by landing yet another Best Picture nomination for the 2000 Juliette Binoche-Johnny Depp bonbon "Chocolat."
In 2003, the Weinsteins had a hand in four of the five Best Picture nominees: "Chicago," "The Hours," "Gangs of New York" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (on which they had producer credits). "Chicago" won the top prize -- as well as five others.
In 2004, Miramax took advantage of a careful reading of Academy rules and scored four nominations for the Brazilian inner-city drama "City of God" -- even though the film had failed to land a Best Foreign Language film nomination the previous year.
The Weinsteins exited Disney-owned Miramax and founded their own company in 2005 -- and got right back in the Oscar race with two nominations for one of their first releases, the Felicity Huffman vehicle "Transamerica."
By 2009, The Weinstein Company landed its first Best Picture contender with "The Reader" -- and also snagged Kate Winslet her first Oscar as Best Actress in a role that many thought was more of a supporting part.
Two years later, TWC scored its first Best Picture win for "The King's Speech" -- as well as three other awards, including Best Actor for Colin Firth.
The following year, Weinstein pulled off another coup: landing five Oscars, including Best Picture for the mostly silent, black-and-white ode to Old Hollywood, "The Artist."
In 2013, TWC again had two horses in the Best Picture race: Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" and "Silver Linings Playbook" -- which landed Jennifer Lawrence the prize for Best Actress.
Last year, Weinstein successfully landed six nominations -- including Best Picture -- for Garth Davis' tear-jerker "Lion." But just as Open Road won the top prize in 2016 for "Spotlight," another upstart, A24, used a lot of Harvey touches to score the indie "Moonlight" a Best Picture win.
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This is the first Oscar season in decades without the disgraced mogul who challenged the major studios and changed the game at the Academy
Indie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who was fired last October from his position of co-CEO of The Weinstein Company, revolutionized the Oscar race both at TWC and his previous company, Miramax.
