‘Nine’ Tanking at Box Office May Have Weinstein Bros in Financial Trouble?

(HMG) – The star studded movie Nine has been disappointing at the box office, which has apparently put big pressure on Harvey and Bob Weinstein. The New York Post reports that the brothers who run Weinstein Co. are considering several deals to restructure their finances so they can repay creditors. The brothers Weinstein founded the company after they sold Miramax Films, the powerhouse studio behind such 1990s movies as “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love,” to Walt Disney Co. in 2005.

Weinstein Co. currently owes Goldman Sachs $500 million. The company that has insured that debt, Ambac, is having financial troubles and is unlikely to be able to repay the debt in full. The studio’s current assets are likely worth less than that amount. The company had hoped that Nine, one of the most anticipated movies of the year, which cost an estimated $64 million to produce, would gross enough money to generate the cash to fund continuing and new productions. “They originally were hoping ‘Nine’ would do numbers like the 2002 musical ‘Chicago’ that Harvey produced did, which grossed $170 million domestically.  But Nine finished eighth at the North American box office on its second week last weekend with a modest $5.5 million in ticket sales, so it looks like it will fall well short of that target.  NY Post sources said the studio has enough cash on hand to fund its current plans to produce and market four films each from Harvey and Bob, including “The Road,” based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel, the Michael Cera vehicle “Youth in Revolt” and a sequel to the animated “Hoodwinked.”