Congratulations Bob & Harvey!!! Glory Be, You're Free At Last!

Hey folks, Harry here! Today is a great day for movie fans, cinema lovers and film worshippers! 12 years ago, I woke up to the sad news that the Brothers W were being chained to Disney. Now, I like Walt Disney's company. Hell, some of my favorite films are from there, I love Disneyland and ya know - family films are the backbone of my Saturday Morning Kid's Club line-up. Oh sure, I understood what Bob & Harvey would gain from an alliance, but Disney corporation - it isn't just a matter of the Disney board or even Michael Eisner. You just aren't under their microscope, but everyone in the entire United States and the world. You make a film that pisses off the wrong special interest group - and the next thing ya know, there are protesters and a drop off in attendance at Disneyland, folks stay home from the latest Animated film and suddenly the guys in the big room in the company that ink & paint built... they're putting pressures that can't be stopped on a company that was founded on guts and intuition. Suddenly it isn't about distributing a film based on a good script, a great director with great actors... it's about the right message, the right morals and that has nothing to do with independence.

I remember back with Bob and Harvey were looking at making LORD OF THE RINGS - I remember hearing, before New Line ever came into it that Michael Eisner "didn't want Harvey in that business," as I heard it told. At that point, had Harvey & Bob not allowed Peter to shop the project, we never would have gotten LORD OF THE RINGS - all because they didn't have the freedom to make one the biggest, best and most profitable epics in the history of cinema - even though they knew it would be great. All because they couldn't just make the movie they knew would be great - because they were not their own company. Time and time again Disney made a corporate decision, that sacrificed the profit that an independent minded production company could make.

Now we've all given Bob & Harvey a good deal of strife for everything from dubbing and re-editing films... not releasing films they bought the rights to and artistic interference. If you remember 12 years ago - the story of Miramax didn't have those issues. Some of those came from pressures necessated from being a part of Walt Disney Company... Now that Bob & Harvey are free from their obligations there, they have the chance to really exploit their instincts without concern for the larger empire of the mouse. Films like BATTLE ROYALE and ICHII THE KILLER can be acquired and distributed, both being films that they dared not touch while under Eisner's watch. They are free to pursue financial partners without having to ask for permission - which means if Tarantino & Rodriguez's visions grow in scope, they should be able to pursue them with the brothers Weinstein. And that my friends is indeed a happy thought. Let's hope these coming months smile on Bob & Harvey, let's hope them the best. Let's hope they show us and Disney what they can be with the shackles off. I really hope they succeed wildly and make films that completely eclipse what they've done so far, wouldn't that really be something?