Miramax Settles ‘Sneaks’ Squabble

Miramax Films Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein settled a dust-up in Hollywood’s talent community Friday with a novel proposition:

For certain Miramax pictures, the company said, every ticket sold at a series of screenings last weekend would mean a payday for two sets of stars and filmmakers.

The double-pay arrangement -- described as unprecedented -- is designed to make sure Miramax’s unusual marketing strategy for its award-winning musical “Chicago” doesn’t take money out of the pockets of high-profile actors Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere and others involved with the film.

Over the weekend, the Walt Disney Co.-owned studio expanded an aggressive campaign of “sneak” previews. It put “Chicago” on 950 screens that were playing its “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” which stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts, and on 250 screens that were playing “Gangs of New York,” the Martin Scorsese epic with Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz.

Such sneaks customarily piggyback a picture that hasn’t opened on top of a film already in release to build word of mouth for the new arrival. Audiences buy a ticket for the current release and see the preview free.

Miramax, however, caused a storm in Hollywood by sneaking “Chicago” for two successive weekends and by running the sneaks for the last three nights, rather than limiting them to the usual one. Also, “Chicago” already had opened in some of the cities where it was “previewed.”

Talent representatives have complained to Miramax that the studio was using red-hot “Chicago” -- which has a high profile as winner of the Golden Globe in the best comedy-musical category but is officially playing on only about 600 screens -- to boost the box-office tally of its less hot “Confessions” and “Gangs.”

The issue is particularly sensitive because the stars and filmmakers of “Chicago,” which was directed by Broadway director-choreographer Rob Marshall, deferred their usual fees so the film could be made on a modest budget, estimated to be about $45 million.

International Creative Management represents Gere and Marshall. Creative Artists Agency represents Zellweger. William Morris Agency represents Zeta-Jones.

The aggressive piggybacking apparently racked up substantial ticket sales over the weekend for “Confessions” and “Gangs,” increasing the payout for profit participants in those pictures while threatening to deprive the “Chicago” players of their share.

Weinstein, however, has promised to resolve the dispute by paying everyone involved with the 1,200 sneaks.

“Any money that ‘Chicago’ collects on sneaks on ‘Confessions’ or ‘Gangs,’ Harvey is going to match that amount for the profit participants on ‘Chicago,’ ” Miramax spokeswoman Amanda Lundberg said.

Lundberg said Friday that Weinstein had intended to pay both sets of participants all along.

“Harvey always comes up with innovative ways to do things,” she said.

Further, Miramax maintained that its unorthodox sneaks were intended to help “Chicago” build interest with male audiences and to make sure its soundtrack held its No. 2 position on the sales charts. Earlier sneaks, however, occurred on Super Bowl Sunday, when the male audience generally is absent from theaters.

According to rival film distributors, both “Confessions” and “Gangs” got a lift this weekend from the sneaks.

Box-office sales for “Confessions” dropped only about 25% from the previous weekend, to $4.3 million; rivals had expected a bigger falloff.

Similarly, “Gangs” slipped only about 20% over the weekend, to $2.1 million. Competitors had expected a larger drop, because “Gangs” was appearing in 420 fewer theaters than a week ago.

Miramax executives said it was impossible to gauge how much “Chicago” had bolstered the other films.

“Chicago” scored weekend ticket sales of about $7.1 million, pushing its total gross past $50 million to date.

How much Miramax will pay in “make-goods” to the “Chicago” participants is unclear. The compensation was to be based only on Miramax’s share of each ticket sale, after the theater takes a substantial cut. And each player may be paid under a different contractual formula.