Miramax Is Done

Kevin Smith put it best when he said he was "crushed" to see Miramax "pass into history." The studio gave Smith his start with Clerks and gave audiences tired of Forrest Gump and alternative in the form of a Royale with Cheese.. Now Disney has closed its offices, consolidated it and stated it wasn't closing it down entirely.

Sure sounds like it, though.

Miramax, for better or for worse, will forever be known as the company that brought independent films to a mainstream audience. That covers the good and bad, but the end result was really a positive one. It gave people who were tired of blockbuster nonsense a reason to leave their houses and actually go to the cinema, and for that I will miss it.

I didn't love everything that came out with its logo, but I understood and respected the spirit of the mission ... most of the time. Miramax had its faults (which multiplied when it started getting involved in that blockbuster nonsense I mentioned before), but you can't ignore what it did for American cinema.

Is it gone? It's gone enough. But its legacy will live on.