Disney seeks buyer for Miramax label

Feb 1, 2010, 22:29 GMT

Los Angeles - Days after it shuttered its art-house production label Miramax, Disney is seeking a buyer for Miramax's name and movie library, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Disney is seeking some 700 million dollars for the package , which includes modern classics like Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare in Love and The English Patient.

Disney shut down the company on Thursday, putting some 80 people out of a job.

Founded by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 1979, Miramax was a leading producer and distributor of independent films and is credited with taking independent cinema into the mainstream in the US.

It was famous for its successful Oscar campaigns and for launching the careers of directors such as Quentin Tarantino , Kevin Smith and Steven Soderbergh. The company was bought by Disney in 1993, but the Weinsteins left in 2005 after a slate of big budget films threw them into conflict with Disney managers.

According to The Wall Street Journal, several buyers have voiced interest in the deal. Harvey Weinsten said he was nostalgic about the demise of the company and said the brothers would 'love the opportunity' to buy back the name - an amalgam of their parents' names, Max and Miriam.

'There isn't much in the world that would make our 83-year old mother happier,' he was quoted as saying.