Village Roadshow Sues Warner Bros. Over “Matrix Resurrections”
HipsterZOMBIEJoint Experience
2 min read
Per News Reelz:
This could get ugly. Warner Bros. has been hit with a lawsuit by Village Roadshow over the release of Matrix Resurrections. Village Roadshow officially sued Warner Bros. today in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging breach of contract. The 50-page complaint took WB to task by saying the company made deliberate and coordinated efforts to eviscerate the significant value of Village Roadshow’s intellectual property. Basically they felt the film’s day-and-date release in theaters and on streaming via HBO Max hurt the film’s box office potential.
Warner Bros. clapped back at Village Roadshow by saying, “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. We have no doubt that this case will be resolved in our favor.”
To put things into perspective, Village Roadshow has a 25-year relationship with Warner Bros. Village Roadshow has ponied up $4.5 billion to produce and distribute nearly 100 films on WB’s behalf. As a part of their complaint, Village Roadshow points out that the Matrix franchise has banked over $2 billion at the box office, and that the latest sequel deserved better representation on the silver screen. To date, The Matrix Resurrections has grossed a mere $37.3M domestically and $153.5M globally on a reported $190M budget.
In a pre-pandemic setting this film most likely would have been a big box office draw despite it being a rancid pile of crap money grab. However, since it landed on streaming and the reviews for it were piss poor, most people chose to avoid it like the plague it is.
Maybe this sad attempt at trying to resurrect the franchise will be the final nail in the coffin to a franchise that hasn’t be good since it’s first film.
