Mouse Sells Out Moore

Wed., May. 12, 2004 11:00 PM PDT by Sarah Hall

Michael Moore will not be silenced.

The Walt Disney Company has accepted an offer from Miramax heavyweights Bob and Harvey Weinstein to buy back Moore's controversial new documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11, after the company banned Miramax from releasing the film.

The movie links Osama bin Laden and the Bush family and harshly criticizes Bush's actions in the wake of 9-11.

Disney's rejection of the film was based on the family friendly company's opinion that the politically charged project was inappropriate for it to distribute during an election year.

Mouse House CEO Michael Eisner said he felt that theme park and entertainment consumers "do not look for us to take sides."

The Weinsteins will have to recoup Disney's $6 million dollar investment in the film and will likely ensure that the company is cut out of any future profits. They will still not be able to distribute the film through Miramax but will have to find a third-party company.

"We're very happy that Disney has agreed to sell Fahrenheit 9/11 to Bob and Harvey," Miramax said in a statement. "Bob and Harvey look forward to promptly completing this transaction."

Miramax has played this game with Disney before. In 1999, the Mouse House forced the studio to abandon distribution of Kevin Smith's Dogma, which poked irreverent fun at angels, prophets and apostles uniting to stop the end of the world. Lions Gate Films eventually picked up Dogma and is considered a potential front-runner to distribute Fahrenheit 9/11, along with Newmarket and Focus Features.

The other option would be for the Weinsteins to distribute the film themselves, as they did with 1995's Kids. After Disney balked at releasing the controversial film, the Weinsteins formed their own company for the sole purpose of issuing the film

Meanwhile, Moore's documentary made its world premiere Wednesday at the Cannes Film Festival, where it's among 18 films in competition.

Since news of the initial ban, Moore has remained uncharacteristically quiet on the topic of his film, saying he prefers to let the work speak for itself.

If Fahrenheit draws the kind of attention 2002's Bowling for Columbine did, it stands to do well at the box office.

After debuting at Cannes and winning a special award, Columbine won an Oscar for Best Documentary on its way to $22 million in receipts, making it the top-grossing documentary of all time, besting the previous record holder, Moore's Roger & Me.