Exactly one year since I posted about the nebulous status of Mike Nesmith's Pacific Arts catalog, I return (Hi, y'all, I'm back, more–or–less) to submit an update. 



I had dutifully searched high–and–low for info. I even staked out Pacific's brick–and–mortar location: a modest, unassuming 2–story corner building on Catalina Street in Seaside, CA, with blinds drawn and spaces marked for Videoranch. When I try to include the street address with photos, boardhost slaps me with "We were not able to confirm this was a valid request. Please try again and ensure that your HTTP_REFERER is enabled." 

Whatever the FUCK that means. I think it means this runs deep. 

But Humility awaited me. I finally discovered that I had been digging in the wrong place all along. The real story had slipped right under my gummy shoes. What a limp dick I had been! Turns out I was already ten months late on the scoop. The fact that the story seems to have only been published in a local paper comes as little consolation. 

The short answer: a legal battle brought by Nesmith's four children, over the inheritance of his estate. 

On March 23, 2022, the Monterey County Weekly published a report titled "Michael Nesmith's four children claim there's another will and contest the estate's worth."

Apparently Nesmith's handwritten will submitted in 2014 leaves all his assets to the Gihon Foundation, a nonprofit started by his mother Bette Claire Graham, inventor of Liquid Paper. That's right, the Liquid Paper. Make jokes, please. Nesmith had been president of the foundation until the time of his death, with his four children serving as board members. 

I tried several times to include a link to the Gihon Foundation's stats page on CauseIQ, but boardhost kept spitting gobbledygook back at me so I'll have to leave that to you, Dear Friends, but rest assured it's not a long walk. 

According to CauseIQ, "The Gihon Foundation primarily funds and promotes the activities of the foundation, which include maintaining and displaying an art collection and a documentary film on the collection, as well as providing a venue for discussions of important issues. Grantees include Arden Wood."

In fact, it would appear that Arden Wood is Gihon's only grantee, self–described as "a vibrant Christian Scientist community devoted to healing, spiritual growth, and graceful living consistent with the teachings and practice of Christian Science." The Monterey County Weekly article reported that the Gihon Foundation has also been used to "support some of Nesmith's projects, including his online virtual performance space Video Ranch 3D."

So, those are fun facts, but let's get to the intrigue. The full article is well–worth a read for plenty of suspicion–arousing details. Nesmith's children claim that another will exists, also handwritten, from 1994, which leaves all his assets to his ex–wife, Victoria Kennedy. "The children are making the case that since Nesmith's one-page, handwritten will, dated July 8, 2014, doesn't state that the new will revokes all previous wills, it's not the true will, only an amendment." [eyebrow raise] They also claim that Nesmith's business manager and accountant Cynthia Davis overvalued his estate by incorrectly including assets that are part of a trust, also formed in 1994.

Regarding the 2014 will, the article quotes presiding judge Julie Culver as stating "There was some question in my mind because it looked so pristine."

When Judge Culver asked if the 2014 document submitted was the original copy, Davis's attorney "explained that after Nesmith's death, Davis went through his papers and found a file folder labeled 'Nesmith Will.' In it was an earlier handwritten will on a sheet of binder paper ripped out of a spiral pad. That will had no witness and no executor named."




The next quote comes from a post by Gold Leaf Estate Planning LLC published May 16, 2022, titled Did Monkee Mike Nesmith Have More Than One Will?
"Although the children said they don’t have the 1994 will yet, they did submit as evidence a copy of a one-page document stating that Kennedy will receive his belongings."

One month later, June 2nd, 2022, the Monterey County Weekly followed up with another article: Michael Nesmith’s children fail to find the will they thought he created ahead of court decision.  A final hearing in Monterey Superior Court was scheduled for June 7, 2023. 

I haven't been able to track down any info on that hearing, but one week ago, January 13th, 2024, the news broke that Nesmith's estate has just been sold, valued at $3.25 million. That's close to the $3.6 million figure his children had disputed was inaccurate, claiming it was only worth $1.95 mil, with the rest belonging to the 1994 trust. So it looks like Mike's ex and their Monkee Babies lost, and the Christian Scientists won.

But where does this leave the fans of lesser–known Pacific Arts creations like Elephant Parts, Nick Danger and the Case of the Missing Yolk, and Salvador Dali: A Soft Self–Portrait?  While that remains to be seen, a used copy of Elephant Parts can still be found on Amazon, for $169.71 USD. 

Just don't forget the Liquid Paper, which will only set you back an additional $6.99.

Good news about I Married a Strange Person.  I still only have a VHS dub from IFC.

Don't care so much for Dogma.  Good for Kevin, I guess.  There's a few copies on Youtube, I believe, if anyone is interested.
 

Jinnistan wrote:

Good news about I Married a Strange Person.  I still only have a VHS dub from IFC.

Don't care so much for Dogma.  Good for Kevin, I guess.  There's a few copies on Youtube, I believe, if anyone is interested.
 

I was underwhelmed by Dogma as well, though I've never ruled out giving it another chance someday, maybe because it's been so long since I've seen it, and maybe because Dogma's premise makes it seem so much like it should have been a good movie that I wonder if I'll find something to like about it.


But what's more important is the bigger story it's part of.


Most of The Weinstein Company's holdings that were auctioned off in 2017 were acquired by Lantern Entertainment and have remained in circulation, and the Weinstein productions owned by Miramax remained unaffected. But a few Weinstein productions have slipped through the cracks.
Dogma is one of the more high–profile cases, with fans screaming about its unavailability for almost two decades. Dogma was not a TWC property, nor was it owned by Miramax. Bob and Harvey Weinstein bought Dogma back from Disney because they refused to release it. It's unclear how many other Weinstein productions have similarly found themselves in limbo, or which ones specifically, or what has happened to them. A few are known, however, and they each seem to have their own story. 

Harmony Korine's Kids, for example, was only available through Australian distributor Umbrella Entertainment, and is now out–of stock:


Sorry for the shitty screen shot, but ain't that one hell of a box set?

Umbrella Entertainment is mainly focused on distributing Australian productions, but somehow they wound up with distribution rights to Kids. 
Kids was also not a TWC or Miramax holding; Bob and Harvey Weinstein had to personally buy that one back from Disney as well, due to Disney's restriction on NC–17 titles. The Weinsteins created "a one–off company" called Shining Excalibur Films to release Kids.
A region–free import of Kids can still be found, but with at least some complaints of it not being playable in all machines, or of discs not even being finalized, so there are at least some indications that if you want to buy a disc of Kids off of Amazon, what you get might not be legit. 
(a side note: Korine's Gummo got a Criterion release last October)


Another peculiar case is that of The Matador (2005), which remains out–of print:

The Matador premiered at Sundance Toronto and Chicago International. Rock or Crumbs, did either of you guys manage to catch this one? A dark comedy with Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear and written/directed by Richard Shepard, a guy with a healthy résumé, several awards and nominations under his belt. He has worked with a notable roster of A–listers (Woody Harrelson, Sean Penn, David Bowie, Sam Rockwell, Richard Gere, Rosanna Arquette, Jude Law), and names King of Comedy among his favorite films, which I dare say is worth something.
The Matador was well–received by critics and audiences alike and garnered particular praise for Pierce Brosnan's performance, earning him a Golden Globe nomination, with Roger Ebert saying it was "Pierce Brosnan's best work to–date." Yet The Matador remains out–of print as one of the few leftover titles not acquired by Lantern, and for which Weinstein apparently still owes millions to Disney.








What other Weinstein titles remain in the lurch?
It's not entirely clear (though Scream 4 is known to be one of them, yawn).
The swirling dust from the Weinstein Company's selloff leaves all kinds of debris and unanswered questions. Lantern Entertainment, the company that acquired the bulk of the TWC catalog, isn't a film distributor at all, and had no involvement in "entertainment" whatsoever before swooping into the Weinstein bankruptcy proceedings to outbid the competition. "Lantern Capital Partners" is a group of Dallas–based private equity investors that "specializes in turning companies around," and is "known for developing golf courses and resorts."  


Dig that eyelight.


The individual who rescued Dogma, Alessandra Gaia Williams, acquired the film along with nine other Weinstein titles in collaboration with a Dubai–based group of investors under the name Flick Ventures Holdings, Ltd. Explicit in Williams’s proposal to the Flick investors: “I need to be in control of Dogma. We can sell all the other films, you can make your money back. And then I have Dogma.”
Williams is a colorful character, actress, model, filmmaker, cinematographer, yoga instructor, charcoal artist, and "force of nature"...



She seems to know her way around the scene.

So, what other Weinstein titles did Flick Ventures Holdings, Ltd. acquire? And what has happened to them?

Whereas the Weinsteins had to set up Shining Excalibur to distribute Kids in 1995, Dogma was distributed by Miramax in 1999, of which they were co–chairs, and which Dinsey had already purchased in 1993, so I don't know what the fuck's up with all that. Maybe it gets into the nauseating teacup ride of mergers and selloffs and stakeholders and investment firms and ok ok... just pay the lawyers and wake me when the ink is dry. 
...Except the saga of Miramax ownership does happen to get intriguing when Disney sells Miramax in 2010; the curious cast of characters who took ownership included a couple of investment firms, a construction management company, and... Qatar?


Yes, the Qatar Investment Authority, Qatar's sovereign wealth fund "founded in 2005 to strengthen the country's economy by diversifying into new asset classes," bought part of Miramax... then a few years later Qatar became the sole owner, when Miramax was purchased lock–stock–and–barrel by Qatar's state–owned network BeIN (spelled like "be in" with an "i", since the font doesn't discriminate), a spinoff of AlJazeera, in 2016. 

...I mean, did you know the government of Qatar owned Miramax? I didn't know that. 

To be thorough, a few years after that in 2019, Qatar sold 49% of Miramax to Paramount Global — formerly ViacomCBS, good fucking grief these mergers are a mouthful — so it seems Qatar retains the controlling 51% of Miramax while letting Paramount Global handle the legwork of management and production. 
So, UAE, Qatar... I guess those Arabian dollars are going a long way in helping to keep Hollywood in business.

In light of current events, I wonder if the fate of the Strait of Hormuz will have any effect on things...


I'm getting cute, sure, but speaking of fun–and–games with the geopolitical degrees of separation, it's also unclear who currently owns distribution rights to another Weinstein production, Fahrenheit 9/11. It may or may not still be Lions Gate and IFC, through whom the film was initially distributed.There are no indications that Fahrenheit 9/11 is going OOP anytime soon, but stranger things have happened. 




EDIT: Oh, ok, or Iran could just bomb Qatar. 

Last edited by Rampop II (6/23/2025 2:44 pm)

God forbid if Prince fans find out that he was a little precious.

All of the diva. prima donna bullshit, all of the moods and insecurities, are right there in the records and the biographies.  I don't see the point in trying to protect the sainthood, just because he did a song called "Pope".  What are these people afraid of?  Artists are a lot more honest than undertakers.

And Prince has a lot of missing movies....