“They want to avoid paying”. Warner Bros. bounces the ball after the lawsuit for the “miserable premiere” of the new “Matrix”

Collaborating with Warner Bros. for nearly a quarter of a century, Village Roadshow has sued the business partner in the aftermath of the new’s financial failure. While the film’s budget was around $ 190 million, global ticket revenue was close to a quarter less (153 million), which meant the production did not pay for itself. The production company wants to prove in court that Warner is acting to its financial detriment, because it uses its productions to increase the profitability of its own brands: “Matrix” Resurrection “had a hybrid premiere, at the same time it could be seen in cinemas and on the HBO Max platform. for a week of silence, she made a comment on the matter and sent it to Deadline.

Warner hits the ball after “Matrix” lawsuit

Warner Bros. Comment it is definitely not delicate. Village’s strategy has been dubbed a “two-faced” tactic. As you can read in more detail in the announcement: “The actions of the Village Roadshow were two-faced, and this dispute is bogus. Village was delighted that their name appeared in the credits, company representatives appeared at the world premiere in San Francisco and introduced themselves to the media as the producers of the film. But now they are trying to get out of the contractual obligation to cover their share of the film production costs. “

Warner goes on to say that in 2021 he struck a deal with his partners for all of that year’s films to provide additional compensation for the creators of the pandemic-triggered shift in the way film is distributed. Everyone agreed, except Village:

They refused to pay their share of film costs, while rejecting our proposed option to reduce the risk of financial loss for them. Instead, the company wanted to reap the benefits of being a co-owner and producer of the films while still being able to freely evaluate the final result of the film’s performance without incurring any investment costs on its part. This is not how we do business, and certainly not with trusted partners.

Let us add that so far this is only a comment on the matter, so far Warner has not taken any legal steps in this matter. But the announcement was answered by Village spokeswoman Diana Torres, who believes that the WB’s statement is “not only untrue, it is also intended to divert attention from the most important issue.”

The lawyer adds that the first lawsuit – a trifle of 50 pages – “contains a detailed description of the calculated conduct of WB, which wants to deprive Village Roadshow of rights to works derived from these films. And the company is already actively working on projects from this franchise. Village Roadshow wants to guarantee itself that that Warner Bros. will abide by its contractual obligations and will not continue to harm the Village Roadshow, “he reports

The soap opera around “The Matrix”

The response to the response to the statement of claim also received another response. Lawyer Daniel Petrocelli told the media that “this case should be an arbitration, which we started before the Village filed a lawsuit.” In his opinion, “Village is deliberately shifting from the mediation provided for by the contract to use the matter as part of its pro-strategy.” The fact is that a lot is happening in both companies. Barely in 2020, the Village Roadshow, after many years of changing its strategic goals, was taken over for 440 million dollars by BGH Capital, which does not mean the end of the change in key positions.

The lawsuit was also sent to the court shortly after the US Department of Justice approved the gigantic merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery (which includes Polish TVN). Commentators point out that the date of the initiation of the legal dispute does not appear to be accidental. It is supposed to indicate that the Village hoped that by making the case public, it would be possible to reach a quick settlement in order to avoid delays in the merger.