There will be no second chances for the Weinsteins.
The Hollywood power team, which has been attempting to buy back its Miramax studio from Disney, has lost the financial backing of hedge fund heavyweight Fortress Investment Group, a source with direct knowledge told The Post — leaving the brothers without enough cash to make a real run at the studio.
At the same time, Harvey and Bob Weinstein are about to see their beloved Miramax — named for their parents Miriam and Max — snapped up by Colony Capital, sources close to discussions told The Post.
The Colony-Disney deal is expected to be announced by Wednesday, unless there is a snag.
The news effectively torpedoes the Weinsteins’ long-running attempts to win back the company they founded in 1979. “Fortress has backed out,” said the source, who added the hedge fund found the brothers tough to deal with.
The Weinsteins’ play for Disney-owned Miramax seemed so certain just months ago that the company arranged a party at the Cannes film festival to celebrate the deal.
Harvey Weinstein had talked to Colony Chief Executive Tom Barrack about the possibility of working together, but it didn’t go anywhere. The Weinsteins’ trump card has been their insistence that they own the rights to remakes of Miramax’s classic movies — but that doesn’t seem to have helped them win back control of the studio that bagged numerous Oscars in the 1990s.
Miramax was sold to Disney in 1993 and the brothers left the studio in 2005.
Disney, Colony, Fortress and the Weinsteins did not return calls.
One nagging question is why Colony is agreeing to pay around $700 million for the property that few have been able to value at more than $550 million, which was the Weinsteins’ last bid.
Despite the delays, Colony is still on track to reach a deal to buy Miramax, two sources close to the situa tion said. Even that bidding process has been imbued with as much drama as any movie. Colony’s deal in volves actor Rob Lowe as an adviser and has two dueling executives, Ron Tutor and David Bergstein, attached.
Separately, as Colony be comes the presumptive buyer of Miramax, the fu ture of beleaguered studio MGM grows more dire. Co lony was a possible suitor for struggling MGM — whose merger talks with Lionsgate Films have re cently collapsed.
“I think the talks be tween MGM and Lion sgate are dead,” the source said. Several other sources close to that situa tion confirmed that those discussions are, at best, ice cold.
MGM, which has until Sept. 15 to make interest payments on its debt, now might look to file a prepack aged bankruptcy with its creditors, Anchorage Advi sors and Highland Capital, becoming the new owners.
“It makes more sense for Colony to buy Miramax than Lionsgate,” another source said. “Miramax has a better brand name, while the MGM brand is tarnished.” jkosman@nypost.com