Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss big name in Warner Bros.’ “The Matrix Resurrections.”
Warner Bros.
Village Roadshow Leisure, a co-producer of “The Matrix Resurrections,” has filed a lawsuit in opposition to Warner Bros., alleging the studio guardian’s determination to liberate the sequel on HBO Max and in theaters on the similar time was once a breach of contract, consistent with a file from The Wall Boulevard Magazine.
The swimsuit, which was once filed Monday in Los Angeles Awesome Court docket, alleges that WarnerMedia, a unit of AT&T, driven up the movie’s liberate date to 2021 from 2022 in an effort to bolster its subscriber base on HBO Max.
Representatives for Warner Bros. didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for remark.
“WB’s sole goal in transferring the discharge date of ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ ahead was once to create a desperately wanted wave of year-end HBO Max top rate subscriptions from what it knew could be a blockbuster movie, in spite of understanding complete neatly that it might decimate the movie’s field place of job earnings and deprive Village Roadshow of any financial upside that WB and its associates would revel in,” the swimsuit mentioned, consistent with WSJ.
Warner Bros. determined in past due 2020 that its whole slate of movies launched in 2021 would arrive in theaters and on HBO Max at the similar day. This tradition was once a lot wanted within the early days of the pandemic, when vaccines weren’t broadly to be had and audiences have been reticent to go back to film theaters. Then again, in opposition to the top of 2021, those twin releases considerably minimize into field place of job price tag gross sales.
“The Matrix Resurrections” disillusioned on the field place of job, partly on account of its simultaneous liberate technique and partly as a result of its audience is older than the moviegoers who’ve been maximum energetic in returning to cinemas.
Village Roadshow isn’t the primary to sue a studio over an afternoon and date liberate technique. Final July, Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit in opposition to Disney, alleging her contract to big name in “Black Widow” was once breached when the media massive determined to liberate the movie on its streaming platform Disney+ on the similar time it introduced in theaters. The 2 events settled the dispute in September.
