Celebrity Disaster

Hey, Miramax Films--I'm not interested in buying you:

The Walt Disney Company has been quietly shopping what remains of its Miramax film unit and has secured seven to 10 interested bidders, according to a mergers and acquisitions expert with knowledge of the process.

The initial discussions indicate a price of over $700 million for the Miramax name and its 700-film library, which is essentially all that remains of the once-mighty art house label, according to the person involved who declined to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

The interest is sharply higher than a year ago, when Disney briefly floated a Miramax sale but reconsidered because of the recession, reflecting a loosening of the debt markets. It may also indicate renewed interest in investing in entertainment.

A Disney spokeswoman declined to comment.

Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein, who founded Miramax in 1979, are not among the bidders – so far. The Weinstein brothers sold Miramax to Disney in 1993 but ran it until 2005, when they left to found the Weinstein Company.

Wasn't this the studio that just won huge awards and accolades for yet another Coen Brothers film that figured out a new way to insult the audience? Interestingly, there's an unreleased Jennifer Aniston film that Miramax is waiting to release, and no, it's not called Boring Shit Sandwich.

Yes, I went there.