Matrix’ Co Producer is Suing Warner Brothers Over This

According to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report, Village Roadshow, the co-producer of the Matrix film “The Matrix Resurrections”, is suing Warner Bros. over the same-day HBO Max streaming release.

Village Roadshow has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over its parent company’s decision to release “The Matrix Resurrections” in theaters and on HBO Max at the same time.
The suit alleges that WarnerMedia pushed up the film’s release date to 2021 from 2022 in order to bolster its subscriber base on HBO Max.

The suit was filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

“WB’s sole purpose in moving the release date of ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ forward was to create a desperately needed wave of year-end HBO Max premium subscriptions from what it knew would be a blockbuster film, despite knowing full well that it would decimate the film’s box office revenue and deprive Village Roadshow of any economic upside that WB and its affiliates would enjoy,”
the suit said, according to WSJ.

It was in late 2020 that Warner Brothers decided that its entire slate of films released in 2021 would arrive in theaters and on HBO Max on the same day.

“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,” Warner Bros. said in a statement Monday.

It was last July that Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against Disney, alleging her contract to star in “Black Widow” was breached when the media giant decided to release the film on its streaming platform Disney+ at the same time it launched in theaters. The two parties settled the dispute last September.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.