A look inside Hollywood and the movies : Kids Didn’t Rush ‘Into the West,’ So . . .

“Into the West” was released last month in 550 theaters as the first picture produced under Miramax Films’ new family label. But although the movie drew favorable reviews, families did not flock to this mystical adventure tale of two Irish Gypsy boys who set off to rescue a beloved magical horse.

In an unusual about-face, Miramax has decided to reposition “Into the West” as an art-house movie in hopes of giving it a second chance to find an audience.

And, even more significantly, Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein said part of his plan includes working with British director Mike Newell (“Enchanted April”) and Irish screenwriter Jim Sheridan (“My Left Foot”) to do “a little re-cutting” of “Into the West” to “slant it more toward the adult point of view.” Some footage considered “too strong for children” may also be added, he said.

Reached in London, Newell said Weinstein’s plan to re-cut the film was news to him. “I’ve heard absolutely nothing about that!” he exclaimed. “They are very sticky-fingered, these people. . . . I wish he would not scatter these things around. I wish he would come and talk to the horse’s mouth.

“They have a history with this, and it does make one tremendously jumpy,” Newell added, referring to Miramax’s reputation for tinkering with its films. Among directors, Weinstein has earned the sobriquet “Harvey Scissorhands.”

One scene that was excised from the film and might be restored occurs in a bar. A fight breaks out after the Gypsies--called travelers in the movie--encounter prejudice. “They took that scene out altogether for children, thinking it too strong,” the director said. “I regretted it, but given where they wanted to position the film, I agreed to it.”

At the same time, Newell applauded Miramax’s willingness to keep his film alive. “I’m immensely glad that they would stick with the movie,” he said. “That’s worth pearls.”

As a family film, “Into the West,” starring Gabriel Byrne as the boys’ troubled father, and Ellen Barkin as a fellow Gypsy, has grossed only $4.2 million; it cost $6.5 million. “I’m not sure parents want to take their kids to see something that might be intellectually challenging for (them),” Weinstein said.

The newly retooled picture will reopen Friday in one theater each in Los Angeles and New York and begin exclusive engagements in about 18 other cities the following weekend.

This time, instead of emphasizing the adventure aspects of the story, the ad copy is calling attention to the picture’s connection with previous Miramax hits such as “Enchanted April” (1991) and “My Left Foot” (1989) and advising parents to “leave the kids at home.”

“While families around the country enjoyed the movie, it was the adults, not the kids, who really loved it,” the new ad copy states. “They were the ones comparing ‘Into the West’ to ‘My Left Foot’ and ‘Cinema Paradiso.’ ” The latter film, released by Miramax in 1988, was one of the most successful foreign-language films ever shown in the United States.

‘We don’t expect to open gangbusters,” Weinstein said. “We expect to nurture the movie . . . and let it grow.”

He noted that Miramax successfully re-released “The Long Walk Home” (1990) as an art-house film after it failed the first time around in wide release. “I remember saying three years ago, ‘This movie is too good, we’re not going to give up on it.’ ”

“Into the West” was completed last spring before Miramax was acquired by Disney. But Weinstein said that while Disney liked the film well enough to buy it for the home video market, executives there had warned him against selling it as a mass-appeal family film. “They felt it would be tough-going in the (family) marketplace” because audiences have been conditioned by what has been successful before, he recalled.