WEINSTEINS

Thursday marked the end of an important era in motion picture history, with Disney shuttering the New York and Los Angeles offices of Miramax Films and the division's president, Daniel Battsek, along with about 80 Miramax employees, departing.

The 31-year-old Miramax label will be retained by Disney and applied to about three movies a year going forward, according to studio officials.

But managed by Disney's main Burbank, Calif. management team -- and lacking any dedicated employees of its own -- the groundbreaking indie studio founded by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 1979 is essentially finished.

Naming the studio after their parents, Max and Miriam Weinstein, the brothers built a powerful film brand from scratch, wheeling and dealing to get capital, bullying business partners, seducing top film makers, and of course, spending oodles of money on Oscar campaigns.

While the Weinsteins themselves have always been polarizing figures in Hollywood, there's no debate about the stellar quality of their library, which includes "My Left Foot,""Reservoir Dogs," "The Piano," "Pulp Fiction," "Clerks," "sex, lies and videotape,""Shakespeare in Love," "Swingers," "Good Will Hunting" and "The English Patient,"just to name a few films. 

Countless films released by Miramax have received Oscar nominations for Best Picture and some, like 'The English Patient' in 1996, 'Shakespeare in Love' in 1998 and 'Chicago' in 2002, have even won.

"Miramax wasn't just a bad-boy clubhouse, it was a 20th century Olympus," filmmaker Kevin Smith told the Wrap. "Throw a can of Diet Coke and you hit a modern-day deity. And for one brief, shining moment, it was an age of magic and wonders." 

The Weinstein's sold their company to Disney in 1993 for $70 million. And for a while, they were able operate rather autonomously out of New York.

However, as the label aggressively sought awards attention with lavish Oscar campaigns, and its movie budgets began to escalate, the Weinstein's relationship with then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner deteriorated.