Michael Lang named new Miramax CEO

Lang will be based at the new company headquarters in Santa Monica and will oversee the film library, which was acquired by Filmyard Holdings on December 3.

The 45-year-old is currently staffing up a sales force to carry out the company’s initial priority, namely to exploit the library of 700 titles around the world across all platforms.

Miramax controls a number of development titles and sequel rights and a production and distribution partner may eventually be sought to help bring the properties to the big screen. In-house production is not a mandate at this stage.

The company may on occasion acquire films and to this end Lang will attend Sundance.

He most recently served as a consultant to Filmyard in its acquisition of Miramax. Prior to that, he was executive vice-president of business development and strategy at Fox Entertainment, which he joined in 1994.

He played key roles in the acquisition of MySpace and the formation of the MySpace Music joint venture and led the creation of Hulu with major broadcast partners. Lang began his career at The Walt Disney Company in Strategic Planning.

“I have known and worked closely with Mike for almost 20 years and have always respected his talents,” Richard Nanula, chairman of Miramax and a principal at Filmyard partner Colony Capital, said. “We are confident that he is the right person to lead Miramax in its next phase of growth.”

“I have always admired the Miramax library, which includes many respected titles and award-winning films,” Lang said. “Based on the quality of these assets, I believe bringing new life to this library – by working with traditional and new partners – will be an exciting and unprecedented story of growth and innovation .

The 700-strong Miramax library includes Bridget Jones’s Diary, sex, lies, and videotape, The English Patient, Shakespeare In Love, Reservoir Dogs, Chicago (pictured), Good Will Hunting, Pulp Fiction, My Left Foot, No Country For Old Men and Hellraiser.

Filmyard Holdings completed the $663m acquisition of Miramax from Disney on December 4.