According the Hollywood Reporter Disney has removed Harvey Weinstein from his producer role on the long in development Artemis Fowl Film.
“We have terminated his services as producer,” said a spokesperson for Disney on Wednesday. Weinstien and the studio have been developing the project, based the children’s book series, for years.
Just yesterday Disney CEO Bob Iger expressed his thoughts on the Weinstein issue. “Harvey Weinstein’s reported behavior is abhorrent and unacceptable, and it has no place in our society,”
While still at Miramax, Weinstein picked up the rights to the Eoin Colfer series during the height of Hollywood’s Harry Potter craze, when many studios were looking to find the next YA fantasy to bring to the screen in the early 2000s. When Weinstein and his brother Bob left in left Miramax in 2005 to form The Weinstein Co., the book rights reverted back to Disney, which at the time owned Miramax.
The project fell into inactivity after the Weinstein’s acrimonious split from Disney, which later sold its stake in that company. Disney picked up the rights to the books in 2013, this time with Weinstein on board as a producer. (Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal, who were to produce when it was still at Miramax, are exec producing now.)
With all the controversy surrounding Weinstein, this was a smart move for Disney Company.
Stay tuned for more updates on Artemis Fowl.
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Yeah, I support this decision.