Village Roadshow Entertainment Group is suing its Matrix Resurrections co-producer Warner Bros., claiming the film’s simultaneous release in theaters and on WarnerMedia-owned HBO Max is a breach of contract.
According to a complaint filed on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Village Roadshow also alleged that WB delayed the movie’s release from 2021 to 2022 to help attract more streaming subscribers.
“The hit to The Matrix Resurrections‘ box office returns was not the result of just the cannibalization from streaming but from the rampant piracy it knew would come by distributing this marquee picture on a streaming platform on the same day as its theatrical release,” the suit said. “The cumulative result was devastating.”
As part of its pandemic plan, Warner Bros. last year released 17 major films—including Dune, Space Jam: A New Legacy, Godzilla vs. Kong, and Tom & Jerry—simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max at no extra cost. The only catch: movies were available to stream for only one month, after which consumers had to pony up at the cinema or wait for a future digital release.
The move, according to Village Roadshow, is nothing more than a “clandestine plan to materially reduce box office and correlated ancillary revenue generated from tent-pole films,” the suite said, “in exchange for driving subscription revenue for the new HBO Max service, for which only WarnerMedia would be the sole beneficiary.” Village Roadshow believes Warner Bros. “inflicted serious harm to the entire Matrix franchise,” causing “abysmal” box office sales and the inevitable end to a popular sci-fi action series.
“We have no doubt that this case will be resolved in our favor,” Warner Bros. told The Verge in a statement, calling the lawsuit “a frivolous attempt by Village Roadshow to avoid their contractual commitment to participate in the arbitration that we commenced against them last week.”
WB returns to a dedicated theatrical release schedule in 2022, but also promised 10 HBO Max exclusives to entice more subscribers to the streaming service.
Black Widow star Scarlett Johansson set a precedent last year when she sued Disney over the same-day release of her Marvel superhero film on Disney+ and in cinemas, potentially denying her a big-box-office paycheck. The suit was settled a month later, though terms of the deal were not disclosed.
