Lang on new Miramax (LAT, VAR, PC)

By Nancy Tartaglione

With Michael Lang confirmed as the new CEO of Miramax Films, the studio will focus on acquiring completed films and eventually buying movie libraries. According to The Los Angeles Times, Lang indicated that the studio will return to film production further down the line, but not in the foreseeable future.

With all that Lang has ahead of him, he told PaidContent that it would be "foolhardy" to try set up everything he wants Miramax to do with licensing, marketing and more plus produce new films.

However, Lang did tell the LAT that Miramax could partner with other studios for movies based on an existing pool of projects in development that were acquired from Disney. He also said there are already talks underway for a number of potential pictures based on Miramax-owned projects or sequels.

With regard to acquisitions, Lang plans to hit the festival circuit in 2012. "We plan to stay active in acquisitions on an opportunistic basis," he told the paper. "What has made this company so great in the past is its ability to attract exciting, emerging filmmakers, and I want us to continue that."

Per the LAT:

A former News Corp. business development executive, Lang was tapped for the Miramax CEO job primarily to utilize his experience in television and digital distribution to make money off the studio's library. He said he would hire executives with experience in acquisitions to handle that side of the business.

Expanding on the size of the new Miramax, Lang told Variety: "We may have hundreds of people working on something from our third-party partner organizations, but we may only have three or five people at our organization that are ultimately responsible for it." No previous Miramax employees came with the library's purchase.

Further, Miramax is in talks about a distribution agreement with YouTube and other digital companies including Netflix, which Lang told the LAT could replace a traditional pay-TV deal with a network. "We will be on the cutting edge in terms of doing partnerships with digital companies like Netflix, Google or Hulu," he said.

"We're at the precipice of working with everybody. We're going to do it all," Lang told PC.

Lang further told the LAT he is also in advanced discussions with two studios to each handle theatrical releases of two completed Miramax movies acquired from Disney: "The Debt" and "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark."