‘Wind River’ Gears Up Oscar Campaign As Weinstein Name Scrubbed From Film

Miramax and The Weinstein Company were once the kings of the awards of the awards season, but the Harvey Weinstein scandal has not only forever damaged their legacy, but ensured the family name won’t be associated with any awards contending movies in the near future. With production companies all over Hollywood and around the world racing to erase the Weinstein brand from their projects, one movie is getting fresh life as a contender by scrubbing off the predator’s name.

“Wind River” has been one of the lone bright spots for The Weinstein Company this year. Taylor Sheridan‘s directorial debut received great reviews, and has been sleeper hit at the box office, earning $33.5 million. It has been the subject of Oscar talk prior to the Weinstein story breaking, but now it’s back in the mix. Acacia Entertainment, a company owned by Tunica-Biloxi tribes, and who largely funded the $10 million film (TWC picked up the distribution rights in 2016), are now going to fully fund the awards season screeners and the Oscar campaign for “Wind River.”

It’ll be interesting to see whether or not the removal of the Weinstein name, will still allow awards season voters to view the film objectively. Acacia are stressing that there will be no involvement from anybody at The Weinstein Company with the film, and there are currently talks that any future profits that would’ve went to the studio, be directed to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, which assists battered Native American women.

The removal of Weinstein’s name just isn’t being done for the awards season. The eventual home video release through Lionsgate and the cut that will stream on Netflix will both have the former mogul’s name excised. It’s an interesting twist to an already wide open Oscar season, but let’s remember that erasing Weinstein’s hardly erases the damage he’s done. [Deadline]