New President Must Fill Large Shoes at Miramax

In Hollywood, the names Bob and Harvey Weinstein resonate as legends.

So far, the name Daniel Battsek mostly goes unrecognized.

Largely unknown outside of independent film circles, the British-born executive has big shoes to fill in following the Weinsteins. This weekend, he is releasing his first film, "Tsotsi," as the new head of Walt Disney Co.'s Miramax Film Corp., which the Weinstein brothers founded and ran for 26 years.

Plucked last fall from Disney's international film ranks in London, Battsek suddenly finds himself a major player in the competitive world of specialty films. The 47-year-old executive is under the gun to quickly reestablish Miramax as the kind of dominant force it was when the Weinsteins released such acclaimed hits as "Shakespeare in Love" and "The English Patient" in the late 1990s.

It won't be easy. Rivals such as Fox Searchlight, the company behind "Sideways," and "Brokeback Mountain" distributor Focus Features have successfully eaten away at a business Miramax once owned.

Other specialty film distributors such as Paramount Classics, Warner Independent Pictures and Sony Pictures Classics also are aggressively in the business, recognizing how lucrative specialty films can be. Still lurking are the Weinsteins, who have launched Weinstein Co.

Battsek, now based in New York, lacks the clout of his more established rivals, as well as the bigger-than-life charisma of Harvey Weinstein, who departed Disney last year with his brother, Bob, in a bitter breakup. The brothers left behind Miramax, which they named after their parents, Miriam and Max.

The Miramax that Battsek inherits is a much slimmed-down operation. Disney is giving him an annual budget of about $300 million -- less than half of what the Weinsteins had -- to produce, acquire and market six to eight films a year.

Nonetheless, he is confident that his offerings will define a new era for Miramax. "I'm allowing the movies that I release to speak for themselves ... and create our identity," Battsek said.

The man who selected Battsek for the job, Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook, isn't too worried about the executive's low profile in an industry in which agents, filmmakers and stars scramble to do business with distributors.

"If you are a buyer, sellers tend to find you fairly rapidly -- so we are not really concerned," Cook said.