Village Roadshow Sues Warner Bros. Over Releasing “The Matrix Resurrections” On HBO Max

Time for another pandemic-related lawsuit in Hollywood because some people didn’t make enough money from a movie! Scarlett Johansson notoriously busted Disney’s balls and got them to pay her ass out after they released Black Widow simultaneously in theatres and Disney+. She sued them for breach of contract alleging she lost out on millions in bonuses. Time for a repeat, as Variety says that production company Village Roadshow is suing Warner Bros. alleging they sabotaged the release of The Matrix Resurrections by releasing it on HBO Max. They need to sue the people who wrote it too because they sabotaged the movie first by making it suck.

The Matrix Resurrections came out at the end of last year and has made about $148 million at the box office so far. Which isn’t good since it cost about $190 million to make. Because Warner Bros. decided to release a lot of their movies simultaneously in the theaters and on HBO Max (Suicide Squad, King Richard, Dune) they ended up paying out millions to profit participants to make up for the lost box office income. Village Roadshow has a longstanding co-financing arrangement with WB and they’ve made lots of big-name movies together like the Matrix series, Joker, and the Oceans-series. In their lawsuit, Village alleges that Warner never consulted them when putting The Matrix on HBO Max and accuses them of deliberately harming the film’s box office revenue in order to prop up HBO Max, which negatively impacted the future viability of the franchise. The lawsuit says:

“WB’s strategy not only ensured that The Matrix Resurrections would be a bust at the box office, but it also inflicted serious harm to the entire Matrix franchise,” the suit alleges. “There can be no doubt that the abysmal theatrical box office sales figures from The Matrix Resurrections dilute the value of this tent pole franchise as a film’s lack of profitability generally prevents studios from investing in additional sequels and derivative films in the near term.”

Village Roadshow also roasts WB for feeding into piracy with the HBO Max release. Village Roadshow also claims that WB talked to stars and director, Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Ann Moss, and Lana Wachowski, to come to “acceptable accommodations” due to the HBO Max release. (I’m assuming that means WB paid them.) VR also brings up how Warner postponed its fully-owned projects like The Batman and Black Adam until they could be released in a theatrical-only setting. And VR also points out that Spider-Man: No Way Home made millions at the box office with an exclusive theatrical release and so the HBO release strategy wasn’t even “necessitated by the pandemic.” The lawsuit says this might even be a calculated move from WB which would put the ownership of rights VR has to other projects in jeopardy:

The suit also states that–due to the poor box office results–Village Roadshow cannot make its contractually obligated payment to Warner Bros., putting the company at risk of losing its rights to the film.

The suit alleges that Warner Bros. has also been seeking to deprive the company of its rights to other films, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Edge of Tomorrow.

Warner Bros. gave a statement calling it “frivolous” but as we remember, Disney tried playing hardball with Scarlett too and that didn’t work out for them.

“This is a frivolous attempt by Village Roadshow to avoid their contractual commitment to participate in the arbitration that we commenced against them last week,” the studio said. “We have no doubt that this case will be resolved in our favor.”

Village Roadshow wants a declaration from the court saying Warner Bros. breached its agreement and argues that their arbitration agreement with Warner doesn’t stop them from “seeking non-monetary relief in court.”

I think Village Roadshow should make some alternate plans in case they aren’t successful with their lawsuit. Maybe they could sell some NFTs? Keanu Reeves would laugh at them, but you gotta do what you gotta do!

Pic: YouTube