Head of Miramax (Daniel Battsek) leaves

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http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=13&cs=1

Disney continues to downsize studio
By MARC GRASER

Miramax continues to downsize, losing Daniel Battsek as the president of Disney's specialty film label.

Battsek will step down in January. No replacement has yet been named.
The move came as a surprise to staffers at the company on Friday, and most first found out in an email sent out by the exec who attributed his departure to the "change in direction" at Miramax.

That recently involved slashing the number of films the company releases to three a year, from the six to eight it previously had on its release sked, and folding much of its operations — marketing, distribution, operations and administrative support functions — into the Mouse House's larger film group.

The resulting layoffs of its 80 employees included production chief Keri Putnam, who headed up Miramax's L.A. office.
Disney started downscaling the division less than a month ago, (Daily Variety, Oct. 2), only three days before Rich Ross was officially named chairman of Walt Disney Studios.

With the change in direction at Miramax, we have reached a mutual agreement with Daniel Battsek that he will leave his post as president, effective January 2010," Ross said in a statement early Friday afternoon. "During his 18 years of service, he has brought some very prestigious and award-winning films to the studio from ‘Calendar Girls' to ‘The Queen' to ‘No Country for Old Men.' We wish Daniel the very best on his future endeavors."

Disney is still trying to figure out the future of Miramax as the company puts a greater emphasis on tentpoles and family fare.

While studios have increasingly been downbeat on spciality lables, saying it's become more difficult to recoup the costs of adult-targeted pics, Miramax's survival so far, albeit in smaller form, was likely helped by the fact that the studio has a first-look pact with Scott Rudin, whose "No Country For Old Men" won the best picture Oscar in 2007 for Miramax (and partner Paramount Vantage) and received a number of noms for the shingle with "Doubt" as well.

This year, Miramax has suffered from a string of disappointing performers at the B.O., including "The Boys Are Back," "Cheri" and "Extract." "Boys" has earned just $728,000 domestically since its release Sept. 26. Its biggest earner to date is "Chicago," which earned $307 million worldwide in 2002.