DISNEY MOVIES TANK IN QUARTER MIRAMAX SLATE BLAMED FOR DROP.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

PASADENA - The Walt Disney Co.'s chief financial officer said the movie studio division is expecting to post up to a $300 million fourth quarter loss due mainly to the cold box office reception for a series of Miramax films.

``We are releasing a larger number of Miramax titles,'' CFO Tom Staggs said Wednesday at the 2005 Merrill Lynch Media and Entertainment Conference. ``They have not performed well.''

Seven more Miramax films were released in the fourth quarter than in the same period a year earlier.

As of Sunday, ``The Brothers Grimm'' had grossed just $33.3 million and ``The Great Raid,'' $9.9 million.

Another release, ``Underclassman,'' had taken in a mere $4.6 million, and ``An Unfinished Life,'' starring Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman and Jennifer Lopez, opened in limited release over the weekend and took in just over $1 million.

The glut of late-summer Miramax films, which ramped up Disney's marketing expenses considerably, was an effort to clear out inventory before Miramax founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein leave the studio unit at the end of the month.

``It looks like most of the Miramax movies were not easy sells and would have had a tough time under any circumstances,'' said Brandon Gray, editor of the Box Office Mojo Web site. ``But their releases seemed to have been done with haste instead of careful planning, and that's a real problem.''

Miramax has not been Disney's only big-screen problem. The studio's highest-grossing films were ``Sky High'' ($60.7 million) and ``Herbie: Fully Loaded'' ($65.5 million), while the horror film ``Dark Water'' stalled at $25.3 million, and the animated ``Valiant'' has made just $17.4 million.

``It's almost like they didn't even try to have a blockbuster summer,'' Gray said. ```Sky High' did well, and 'Herbie' did OK, perhaps less than expected. But Disney's problems this summer could be projected upon the entire industry. There weren't a lot of appealing movies.''

Staggs, who still expects fourth-quarter double-digit growth overall - thanks to strong media-network and theme-park performance - said the movie slate for the rest of 2005 looks bright, with the upcoming releases this winter of the computer-graphics or CG-animated ``Chicken Little'' and ``The Chronicles of Narnia.''

``These pictures offer great promise,'' he said.

Disney shares closed down 2.8 percent, or 70 cents per share, at $24.11 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com