Good Will Hunting Was Pulled From Theaters To Hurt Robin Williams’ Paycheck

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck‘s breakout hit “Good Will Hunting” is still widely celebrated as a work of art. The movie was distributed by disgraced Hollywood producer, Harvey Weinstein‘s company, Miramax.

It seems that the movie’s production was not all smooth sailing. The movie’s executive producer, Kevin Smith has now come out saying that Weinstein had attempted to pull the movie from theatres. The purpose of this move, claims Smith, was to hurt Robin Williams‘ career.

There’s all this Oscar buzz, so why would you pull it if it was just making money?’ And they did it because keeping it in theaters meant that more of the money would go to Robin, whereas the moment it went to video the split wasn’t Robin-heavy. It was hamstrung because [of] greed.

Despite Weinstein’s machinations, Good Will Hunting went on to become a tremendous success. Made on a measly budget of $10 million, the movie went on to gross over $225 million. The movie also scored nine Academy Awards, of which Affleck and Damon won for Best Screenplay and Williams for Best Supporting Actor.

Smith describes the situation in greater detail in his new book, “Kevin Smith’s Secret Stash.” It seems that the world is yet to find out the full extent of Weinstein nefariousness.

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