Weinstein Co. Saga Comes to an End as $289 Million Sale to Lantern Closes

Weinstein was a name the general public barely knew, but drove Hollywood – that is until last fall. The NY Times wrote an expose on Weinstein last fall detailing his sexual crimes against actresses, models and other women in the entertainment industry.

With its $289 million sale to Lantern Capital Partners having closed today, the Weinstein Co. saga comes to an end. Co-founded by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein in 2005 with plans to become a major multimedia company, TWC — despite back-to-back best picture Oscar wins for The King’s Speech and The Artist as well as several Emmy trophies for shows like Project Runway—  never lived up to all its grand ambitions. And, having struggled financially in recent years, it was forced into bankruptcy in the wake of the dozens of allegations surrounding Harvey Weinstein, who has since been charged with six counts of sexual assault and rape in Manhattan.

Even before he was enveloped by scandal, Harvey Weinstein’s golden touch when it came to courting Oscar had begun to lose its luster. Between their days at Miramax and TWC, the Weinsteins have claimed 341 Oscar nominations and 81 Academy Award wins. When the nominations for the 88th Oscars were announced in 2016, TWC collect 10 nominations for Carol and The Hateful Eight, but no best picture or director noms. And while the list of 2017 nominations saw Lion score six nominations, including best picture, the company’s other awards hopeful The Founder was shut out.

Now, it will be up to Lantern and the leadership it appoints to pick up the pieces. During the course of the bankruptcy proceedings, a deal was struck to move Project Runway from Lifetime back to Bravo, where it originally aired. And there are a number of unreleased films that have been stuck in limbo — period drama The Current War, starring Benedict Cumberbatch; biblical tale Mary Magdalene, starring Rooney Mara; and the odd-couple comedy The Upside, starring Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston — that could be sold off to other distributors.

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