Weinstein Co. Launches Mizchief Label For Children’s Animated Features

The Weinstein Company’s Leap! will be released on Friday under a new studio label, Mizchief.

TWC co-chairman Harvey Weinstein explained in a written statement that he plans to release other animated features under the label as well. Weinstein explained that he calls the label Mizchief “because that’s how my son pronounces mischief.”

Leap! is a France/Canada co-production that was distributed in other parts of the world as Ballerina. Directed by Eric Summer and Eric Warin, it performed well internationally, grossing over US$50 million to date.

Mizchief’s second film will be The Guardian Brothers, which is a reworked English-language version of the 2016 Chinese feature Little Door Gods, the debut feature production of Gary Wang and his Light Chaser Animation. The English cast includes Meryl Streep, Mel Brooks, Nicole Kidman, Edward Norton, Dan Fogler, and Bella Thorne.

Weinstein also announced that his new animation label is developing two other feature projects: adaptations of Philip Pullman’s The Firework-Makers Daughter and George Selden’s The Cricket in Times Square. It’s not clear if the other features will be developed and funded by Weinstein, or if they’ll follow the model of acquisitioning already-produced films like Leap! and The Guardian Brothers.

“Animation is a playful new direction for us,” says Weinstein, “and I’m thrilled to expand the TWC repertoire into a whole new category of films for our kids to enjoy and for us to enjoy with them. All of these films will share incredible stories that most importantly both inspire and entertain our kids.”