Warner Bros Swings Back At “Duplicitous” Village Roadshow Over ‘Matrix’ Streaming Suit
deadline.comEXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros is sick and tired of having streaming sand kicked in its face.As Village Roadshow heads back to the court docket today to further push ASAP on the breach of contract lawsuit the longtime financier of tentpole flicks filed last week against the WarnerMedia-own studio over box office disappointment The Matrix Resurrections, WB have made a rare move to pull back the veil themselves.After the usual dry corporate statement they issued last week, a Warner Bros spokesperson Monday took the white gloves off:Village’s actions have been duplicitous and this dispute is equally contrived.
Village was happy to have their name on the credits of the film, traveled to the world premiere in San Francisco, and held themselves out to the media as producers on the film.
But they have now reneged on their contractual obligation to pay their share of the cost of the film.It is notable that throughout 2021, we reached mutually acceptable agreements on all films in the 2021 slate to provide additional compensation to Talent and our partners in light of our “day and date” release strategy during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
The only exception was Village, which refused to honor its commitment to pay their share of production costs, rejecting the opportunity we offered to de-risk them from any financial underperformance.Instead, Village wanted to enjoy the benefit of publicly holding themselves out as co-owners and producers while preserving a “free look” at the ultimate outcome of the film performance without any financial investment on their part.This is not how we conduct business, certainly not with trusted partners.Maybe make that ex-trusted partners in what looks now like a death spiral to the more than 25-year old
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