LOS ANGELES - Michael Moore's controversial documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" moved a step closer to U.S. theaters on Friday as Miramax film studio founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein personally bought rights to the picture from Walt Disney Co. .

The Walt Disney Co. said it ceded all rights to Michael Moore 'Fahrenheit 911' documentary film critical of President George W. Bush to two of its studio executives. Moore points to photographers as he holds the Palme d'Or award for his documentary film 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' at the 57th Cannes Film Festival , May 23. (Vincent Kessler/Reuters)

Miramax had funded the film but Disney, which owns the art-house studio, had declined to distribute the movie, saying the documentary and its criticism of President Bush's war on Iraq were too politically charged.

After more than three weeks of talks, the Weinsteins bought rights to the film for costs to date, estimated at about $6 million, and will arrange for theatrical and home video distribution, both sides said in a statement issued on Friday.

By clinching a deal now, the movie could still be on track to get into theaters by the middle of this summer, despite a crowded field of U.S. releases, distributors have said.

That fast-track release would capitalize on the recent surge of interest in the film and give Moore a chance to influence the November presidential election with his unflattering portrait of Bush.

The Weinsteins would probably turn to a third-party distributor to handle the film, and talks with such companies already were under way while the brothers negotiated with Disney, one distributor said.

Moore sparked interest in the film in early May by saying Disney had backed down from distributing the documentary out of fear of political repercussions.

Disney hotly denied that charge and in turn accused the director of the anti-gun documentary "Bowling for Columbine" of staging a publicity stunt to promote his film.

"Fahrenheit 9/11" won this month the Palme d'Or, the highest award of France's Cannes film festival , with its portrayal of families affected by the war and U.S. government policies in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that felled the World Trade Center.

It is also expected to meet or beat the box-office performance of "Columbine," which set a record for a U.S. documentary with $21.6 million in ticket sales.

Talks are already under way between the Weinsteins and U.S. distributors, with top contenders seen including Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., Focus Features, a unit of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal., and privately held Newmarket Films. Smaller ThinkFilm is also in the running for the U.S. rights and deals have already been made for releases outside the United States.

Disney said that it could still profit if the film did well but that it would donate any profit to charity. It did not name the charity.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed but a person familiar with it said that the charity component assured that neither Disney nor the Weinsteins would do better under the deal than if Disney had distributed it.

© Copyright Reuters Ltd 2004.

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