Miramax
Miramax Films, founded by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein, is an American motion picture production and distribution company founded in 1979. The name comes from a combination of the first names of the Weinstein brothers' parents, "Miriam" and "Max". From 1993 to 2010, it had been owned by The Walt Disney Company, who retained ownership of the brand when the Weinsteins left Disney to form their own company in 2005.
Miramax owned the American distribution rights to the Pokémon movies Celebi: The Voice of the Forest, Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias, Jirachi: Wish Maker, and Destiny Deoxys (latter two direct-to-video) (which were also occasionally shown on Cartoon Network and were also shown on the now-defunct Disney-owned Toon Disney cable channel). The first three—Celebi: The Voice of the Forest, Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias, and Jirachi: Wish Maker—were released in Canada by Alliance Atlantis Communications, Inc. (now known as Alliance Films), which was responsible for Canadian distribution of Miramax films. In these four movies distributed by Miramax, there were partly or completely different dubbing casts than in the TV series in many countries.
Bob and Harvey Weinstein's names appeared in the "Special Thanks" section of the credits of the Pokémon movies Miramax distributed.
In terms of non-Pokémon anime, Miramax distributed the English-dubbed version of the Studio Ghibli animated film Princess Mononoke and Beyblade: The Movie-Fierce Battle.
Miramax was shut down by Disney on January 28, 2010. They subsequently sold the unit on July 29, 2010, although Disney agreed to continue to distribute Miramax's films (both old and new) for the new owners—Filmyard Holdings, a coalition of business magnate Ronald Tutor and investment firm Colony Capital—for up to one year. The home video rights to most of Miramax's films were later sold to Lionsgate in early 2011. The home video rights to Miramax's remaining films (including the four Pokémon movies), were sold to Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, who re-released all four Pokémon films individually, in several "double-feature" releases (with different combinations), and all four together in a Pokémon movie set. On October 7, 2014, Lionsgate announced the acquisition of even more Miramax titles, including the four Pokémon movies, and were re-released the same day. In 2019, Paramount Pictures acquired a 49% stake in Miramax, gaining worldwide distribution rights to the studio's catalogue.
