Robert Weinstein (born October 18, 1954) is an American film producer. He was the founder and head of Dimension Films and former co-chairman of Miramax Films and the Weinstein Company (TWC), all of which he co-founded with his older brother, Harvey. Bob Weinstein is also the founder of Watch This Entertainment. He had focused on making action and horror films, as well as on "family films, comedies and upscale adult thrillers".
Early life Weinstein was born in Flushing, Queens, in New York City. He was raised in an Ashkenazi Jewish family.Lurie, Rod. "Harvey Weinstein Gets My Criticism of "The Reader" Wrong" The Wrap. February 21, 2009Renee, Ghert-Zand (March 6, 2012). "Weinstein Awarded French Legion of Honor" . The Jewish Daily Forward. His parents were Max Weinstein, a diamond cutter, and Miriam (née Postel). He grew up with his older brother, Harvey Weinstein, in a housing co-op named Electchester in New York City. and, like his older brother, he attended John Bowne High School.
Career Bob, his brother Harvey Weinstein, and Corky Burger independently produced rock concerts as Harvey & Corky Productions in Buffalo through most of the 1970s. Both Weinstein brothers had grown up with a passion for movies, and they nurtured a desire to enter the film industry.
In the late 1970s, using profits from their concert promotion business, the brothers created a small independent film distribution company called Miramax Films, named after their parents Miriam and Max. The company's first releases were primarily music-oriented concert films, such as Paul McCartney's Rockshow. In the early 1980s, Miramax Films acquired the rights to two British films of benefit shows filmed for the human rights organization Amnesty International. Working closely with Martin Lewis, the producer of the original films, the Weinstein brothers edited the two films into one movie tailored for the American market. The resulting film, released as The Secret Policeman's Other Ball in May 1982, became Miramax's first hit. The movie raised considerable sums for Amnesty International and was credited by Amnesty with having helped to raise its profile in the United States.
The Weinsteins slowly built upon this success throughout the 1980s with arthouse films that achieved critical attention and modest commercial success. Harvey Weinstein and Miramax Films gained wider attention in 1988 with the release of Errol Morris's documentary The Thin Blue Line, which detailed the struggle of Randall Adams, a wrongfully convicted inmate sentenced to death row. The publicity that soon surrounded the case resulted in Adams' release and nationwide publicity for Miramax Films. The following year, their successful launch release of Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape propelled Miramax Films to become the most successful independent studio in America.
Miramax Films continued to grow its library of films and directors until 1993 when Disney offered Harvey and Bob $80 million for ownership of Miramax Films. Agreeing to the deal that would cement their Hollywood clout and ensure that they would remain at the head of their company, Miramax Films followed the next year with their first blockbuster, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.
1996 brought Miramax Films's first Academy Award for Best Picture with the victory of The English Patient. This would start a string of critical successes that would include Good Will Hunting and Shakespeare in Love.
On March 29, 2005, it was announced that the Weinstein brothers would leave Miramax Films on September 30 and would form their own production company, The Weinstein Company (TWC). Five years later, in 2010, Disney sold Miramax Films to private equity firm Filmyard Holdings (a joint venture between Colony Capital, Tutor-Saliba Corporation and Qatar Investment Authority). Filmyard in turn sold it to Qatari entity beIN Media Group in 2016, who later sold a 49% stake to ViacomCBS (now known as Paramount Skydance).
On December 4, 2017, Bob Weinstein filed a trademark application for Watch This Entertainment. Almost two years later, on October 12, 2019, Weinstein announced his new production company to the world, with a focus on "family films, comedies and upscale adult thrillers", and a first project of an animated feature titled Endangered, with Téa Leoni serving as co-producer and voicing a lead character. No news has been heard since that announcement, however.
Personal life Weinstein has been married and divorced twice. He married Anne Clayton, a former book editor, in 2000. They lived in a large apartment in The Beresford at 7 West 81st Street on the Upper West Side. Clayton filed for divorce in April 2012, and sought a protective order because she feared "bodily harm". Weinstein issued a statement from Washington-based interventionist Don Sloane, denying that Weinstein was a danger to his wife, and alleging that she was reacting to a family intervention conducted to address her alcoholism. Clayton's lawyers denied that she suffered from any addiction and said that Sloane was her husband's "paid agent" and that the two had never met.
Sexual harassment allegation In October 2017, Weinstein was accused of sexual harassment by Amanda Segel, who had worked as a showrunner on the Weinstein Company-produced Spike TV miniseries The Mist. Segel alleged that Weinstein had made several unwanted sexual overtures to her beginning June 2016, continuing for three months. Weinstein's attorney Bert Fields issued a statement denying the allegations.
Segel's allegation came in the context of the much more high-profile sexual abuse cases against Weinstein's brother, Harvey. In October 2017, Bob spoke about the allegations of sex crimes against his brother, saying he was "sick and disgusted" by Harvey's actions. Bob denied any foreknowledge of his brother's crimes before the allegations became public, but acknowledged that Harvey had a history of extramarital affairs and verbal abuse towards family members, and claimed that he himself was subjected to Harvey's verbal and physical abuse. Bob further said he had rarely spoken to his brother in the previous five years because he "could not take his cheating, his lying and also his attitude toward everyone".
Selected filmography Executive producer Year Film Notes 1989 Scandal Co-executive producer The Lemon Sisters Co-executive producer 1990 Hardware Strike It Rich Crossing the Line Co-executive producer 1991 A Rage in Harlem The Pope Must Diet! 1992 Dust Devil Co-executive producer Into the West Co-executive producer 1993 Benefit of the Doubt The Night We Never Met True Romance The Hour of the Pig Map of the Human Heart 1994 Mother's Boys Pulp Fiction Co-executive producer Prêt-à-Porter 1995 Smoke The Englishman who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain Blue in the Face Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead A Month by the Lake The Journey of August King The Crossing Guard 1996 Beautiful Girls The English Patient Flirting with Disaster The Pallbearer Scream Jane Eyre The Crow: City of Angels Emma The Last of the High Kings Victory Co-executive producer 1997 Addicted to Love Nightwatch She's So Lovely Jackie Brown Good Will Hunting Cop Land The Wings of the Dove Princess Mononoke English-language version Scream 2 Air Bud 1998 A Price Above Rubies Phantoms Senseless Wide Awake Ride Since You've Been Gone TV film The Mighty Velvet Goldmine Halloween H20: 20 Years Later 54 Rounders Little Voice Co-executive producer Talk of Angels B. Monkey Co-executive producer The Faculty Playing by Heart Shakespeare in Love Heaven 1999 Guinevere She's All That My Life So Far Teaching Mrs. Tingle Outside Providence In Too Deep Mansfield Park Holy Smoke! Music of the Heart The Cider House Rules 2000 The Crow: Salvation Down to You Scream 3 Love's Labour's Lost Committed Scary Movie Chocolat The Yards Bounce Dracula 2000 Malèna 2001 The Others Iris The Shipping News Spy Kids Texas Rangers Scary Movie 2 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back 2002 Chicago Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams Below Waking Up in Reno Equilibrium Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Gangs of New York 2003 Cold Mountain Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over My Boss's Daughter Duplex Scary Movie 3 The Human Stain Kill Bill: Volume 1 2004 Jersey Girl Ella Enchanted Fahrenheit 9/11 The Aviator Finding Neverland Shall We Dance? Kill Bill: Volume 2 2005 Sin City Cursed The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl The Brothers Grimm Underclassman Proof Derailed 2006 Clerks II Scary Movie 4 Pulse Breaking and Entering Miss Potter School for Scoundrels 2007 Grindhouse The Mist Rogue Sicko Halloween Awake 1408 Who's Your Caddy? The Nanny Diaries 2008 Superhero Movie Rambo The Reader Zack and Miri Make a Porno Soul Men 2009 Inglourious Basterds Fanboys Halloween II Capitalism: A Love Story Nine 2010 Piranha 3D The King's Speech The Fighter 2011 The Artist Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil Scream 4 Spy Kids: All the Time in the World Apollo 18 Butter I Don't Know How She Does It My Week with Marilyn 2012 Piranha 3DD Silver Linings Playbook Django Unchained 2013 Escape from Planet Earth Scary Movie 5 Lee Daniels' The Butler August: Osage County One Chance Fruitvale Station 2014 Vampire Academy Sin City: A Dame to Kill For Paddington Big Eyes Marco Polo 2015 Woman in Gold Southpaw Carol Macbeth Burnt The Hateful Eight 2016 Sing Street War & Peace Lion The Founder Gold 2017 Wind River 47 Meters Down Amityville: The Awakening Tulip Fever Chandra Levy: An American Murder Mystery The Current War 2018 Hellraiser: Judgment Children of the Corn: Runaway Spy Kids: Mission Critical 2019 Polaroid
Producer Playing for Keeps (1986) Restoration (1995), co-producer Mimic (1997) Reindeer Games (2000) Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), co-producer (uncredited) Bad Santa (2003)
Director Playing for Keeps (1986)
Writer The Burning (1981) Playing for Keeps (1986)
Actor Scream: The Inside Story (2011) - Documentary film, himself
Broadway credits Note: In all productions Weinstein has functioned as a co-producer with other producers. The Real Thing (2000 revival) – play – produced by Miramax Films – Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play The Producers (2001) – musical – Tony Award for Best Musical, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Musical Sweet Smell of Success (2002) – musical – Tony Nomination for Best Musical, Drama Desk Nomination for Outstanding New Musical La bohème (2003 revival) – opera – Tony Nomination for Best Revival of a Musical, Drama Desk Nomination for Outstanding Revival of a Musical All Shook Up (2005) – musical – produced by Bob Weinstein & Miramax Films The Color Purple (2005) – musical
Accolades