娱乐英语新闻:Disney completes sale of Miramax to Ron Tutor

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Walt Disney Co. has completed the sale of Miramax Films division to Filmyard Holdings for 663 million U.S. dollars, the two companies announced on Friday.

However, the deal is subject to certain adjustments, the companies said.

Films Holdings is led by Los Angeles construction magnate Ron Tutor. The company also consists private equity investors of Thomas J. Barrack Jr., Colony Capital LLC and Qatar Holding LLC.

The sale of Miramax Films includes rights in over 700 film titles, including Academy Award winners "Chicago," "Shakespeare in Love" and "No Country for Old Men." Non-film assets, such as certain books, development projects and the "Miramax" name were also included in the sale, the companies said in a joint statement.

The two sides reached an agreement on the sale on July 29.

"Although we are very proud of Miramax's many accomplishments, our current strategy for Walt Disney Studios is to focus on the development of great motion pictures under the Disney, Pixar and Marvel brands," said Robert A. Iger, Disney's president and CEO after the news was first broke in late July. "We are delighted that we have found a home for the Miramax brand and Miramax's very highly regarded motion picture library."

"I am delighted and honored to acquire the Miramax library," said Ron Tutor. "On behalf of my partners Tom Barrack and Colony Capital, we look forward to sharing this high quality content with the world in every form of media for many years to come."

Founded in 1979 by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Miramax was a leading independent film motion picture distribution and production company before it was acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 1993 for 80 million dollars.

In October 2009, Disney announced that the staff of Miramax was to be reduced by 70 percent and the number of releases would be reduced by half to just three films per year. The label's marketing, distribution and administrative functions, which had operated independently, would be folded into the parent studio in Burbank.

Early this year, Miramax merged its operations with Walt Disney Studios, shutting down Miramax's separate New York and Los Angeles offices.

Several companies indicated an interest in purchasing Miramax including Destination Films and Summit Entertainment. Bob and Harvey Weinstein also took an interest in buying back Miramax.