Mr. Weinstein, who is now a Hollywood pariah, has an array of legal problems that are separate from the bankruptcy case. Prosecutors in New York, Los Angeles and London are pursuing possible criminal cases against him. A lawsuit filed last month by Mr. Schneiderman will continue. Mr. Weinstein also faces additional civil suits, including one filed by the British actress Kadian Noble, who is suing him for sex trafficking.

But the bankruptcy filing does halt an array of lawsuits against the company, including those filed by women who contend that the studio facilitated misconduct by Mr. Weinstein. Those women will now have to line up behind the studio’s secured creditors — who themselves are likely to be paid pennies on the dollar, according to bankruptcy lawyers.

The upshot is that women alleging abuse may now have a harder time recovering damages.

The filing, which was expected, ended a chaotic five-month effort to keep the Weinstein Company afloat.

In the fall, after The New York Times and The New Yorker revealed allegations of sexual harassment and rape, Mr. Weinstein’s younger brother and partner in the studio, Bob Weinstein, unsuccessfully scrambled to line up bridge loans to keep the company operating. He then sold “Paddington 2” rights to Warner Bros., which bought time but resulted in a lawsuit.

By early February, to the disbelief of many in the film industry, it seemed as if the Weinstein Company had found a way forward. A group of investors, including the billionaire Ron Burkle and Lantern Capital, had made an offer to buy most of the studio’s assets, which include the TV series “Project Runway” and the rights to “Lion,” “Django Unchained” and about 275 other films.

The investor group, managed by Maria Contreras-Sweet, who ran the Small Business Administration under President Barack Obama, had offered to pay off what it believed was the Weinstein Company’s debt — about $225 million. In return, it would receive most of the studio’s assets, which Ms. Contreras-Sweet planned to use to start a new, female-led film company.

But then Mr. Schneiderman threw the brakes on a sale, filing a lawsuit alleging that the studio and the Weinstein brothers had violated various state and city laws. He also said the proposed sale to Ms. Contreras-Sweet’s group was unacceptable because it did not adequately compensate victims, protect employees and ensure that those who enabled or perpetuated Mr. Weinstein’s conduct would not be rewarded.