Warner Bros. Slapped By Village Roadshow Suit Over ‘Matrix’ & More Going To Streaming
deadline.comWarner Bros, which managed to evade litigation in 2021 despite a hail of protests over parent WarnerMedia’s aggressive tactics with streaming service HBO Max, has been hit with a lawsuit by key supplier Village Roadshow.The production entity sued the studio in Los Angeles Superior Court today, alleging breach of contract.
The Matrix Resurrections came out in December and has limped toward the $200 million mark at the worldwide box office. Village Roadshow contends that WarnerMedia hobbled the film’s commercial prospects by favoring streaming.Legendary Entertainment likewise made rumblings last year about Dune and Godzilla vs.
Kong, as did many other filmmakers and production partners behind 2021 releases. Ultimately, none brought a legal claim, in part because the company spend in the range of $200 million to compensate dozens of partners for foregone box office revenues.With Covid altering the landscape and shuttering theaters for months in 2020, media companies already engaged in a battle to close the gap with Netflix made a number of dramatic moves.
While other companies proceeded in more of a case-by-case fashion, Warner Bros embarked on what was known internally as Project Popcorn, an effort to put all 17 of its 2021 releases on HBO Max at the same time they hit theaters.The move, unveiled at the tail end of 2020, was decried by filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, major agency chiefs and others.
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