Miramax: Dealing itself a ‘Queen’

Miramax ended its first full year under the Daniel Battsek regime with a bonafide art-house smash, Stephen Frears' "The Queen." With its $28.5 million take likely to continue a steady build with anticipated best actress and best picture Oscar noms, it provides an ending flourish to a year that began with a foreign-language film Oscar for "Tsotsi," which earned a respectable $2.9 million. The Robin Williams Sundance Film Festival pickup "The Night Listener" grossed $7.8 million. The company found less success with such less highbrow fare as the comedies "Kinky Boots" and "Keeping Up With the Steins," as well as a pair of low-grossing, sports-themed documentaries "Once in a Lifetime" and "The Heart of the Game." Miramax had only one bomb with the French animated action film "Renaissance."