Posted in: Movies, Warner Bros | Tagged: movies, The Matrix Resurrections, Warner Bros

The Matrix Resurrections: WB Responds to Village Roadshow Suit

The more things change, the more things stay the same. In a move that feels highly similar to Disney's response to the Black Widow lawsuit filed by Scarlett Johansson against them in 2021, it's WB's turn to respond to someone filing a suit against them for a streaming service release.  As you may recall, the Black Widow conflict played out in public in part with statements that were rather pointed. Warner Bros. appears to be taking a similar approach concerning the suit filed by Village Roadshow Entertainment against WB alleging breach of contract concerning the release of The Matrix Resurrections. In a statement obtained by Deadline, a Warner Bros. spokesman stated the following with plenty of strong language throughout:

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.

Village Roadshow Entertainment has cited the HBO Max release of the film as one of the reasons that the movie underperformed dramatically. Village and Warner Bros. have been partners for nearly twenty years, and this isn't the first connection that the 2021 HBO Max slate decision seems to have cost Warner Bros. in 2021. Director Christopher Nolan has been working with the studio for years. He has taken his next big movie to Universal [which is interesting because they kind of pulled the trigger on the skipping theaters for streaming thing in April 2020, but that's a different story].

"This dispute belongs in arbitration, which we commenced before Village filed in court," WB's long time outside attorney Daniel Petrocelli told Deadline today. "Village has deliberately defied their contractual arbitration commitment in an attempt to carry out their public relations strategy," the O'Melveny & Myers LLP partner added.

This matter will likely be solved behind closed doors and we likely won't know the details of what comes from this suit concerning The Matrix Resurrections. There is no denying that the movie underperformed, but there are a number of possible factors for that, including the fact that R-rated movies have smaller audiences and that the critical buzz wasn't that great.

From visionary filmmaker Lana Wachowski comes "The Matrix Resurrections," the long-awaited fourth film in the groundbreaking franchise that redefined a genre. The new film reunites original stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in the iconic roles they made famous, Neo and Trinity.

The film also stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Candyman, the Aquaman franchise), Jessica Henwick (TV's Iron Fist, Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens), Jonathan Groff (Hamilton, TV's Mindhunter), Neil Patrick Harris (Gone Girl), Priyanka Chopra Jonas (TV's Quantico,), Christina Ricci (TV's Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story, The Lizzie Borden Chronicles), Telma Hopkins (TV's Dead to Me,), Eréndira Ibarra (series Sense8, Ingobernable), Toby Onwumere (TV's Empire), Max Riemelt (series Sense8), Brian J. Smith (series Sense8, Treadstone), and Jada Pinkett Smith (Angel Has Fallen, TV's Gotham). It was released in theaters and on HBO Max for 31-days on December 22nd.

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