Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss celebrity in Warner Bros.’ “The Matrix Resurrections.”
Warner Bros.
Village Roadshow Leisure, a co-producer of “The Matrix Resurrections,” has filed a lawsuit towards Warner Bros., alleging the studio mother or father’s determination to liberate the sequel on HBO Max and in theaters on the similar time was once a breach of contract, in line with a record from The Wall Boulevard Magazine.
The swimsuit, which was once filed Monday in Los Angeles Awesome Courtroom, alleges that WarnerMedia, a unit of AT&T, driven up the movie’s liberate date to 2021 from 2022 so as 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 class subscriptions from what it knew can be a blockbuster movie, regardless of realizing complete smartly that it will decimate the movie’s field place of work earnings and deprive Village Roadshow of any financial upside that WB and its associates would revel in,” the swimsuit stated, in line with WSJ.
Warner Bros. made up our minds in past due 2020 that its complete slate of flicks launched in 2021 would arrive in theaters and on HBO Max at the similar day. This custom was once a lot wanted within the early days of the pandemic, when vaccines weren’t extensively to be had and audiences had been reticent to go back to film theaters. Then again, in opposition to the tip of 2021, those twin releases considerably lower into field place of work price ticket gross sales.
“The Matrix Resurrections” upset on the field place of work, in part on account of its simultaneous liberate technique and in part as a result of its target market is older than the moviegoers who’ve been maximum lively in returning to cinemas.
Village Roadshow isn’t the primary to sue a studio over an afternoon and date liberate technique. Remaining July, Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit towards Disney, alleging her contract to celebrity in “Black Widow” was once breached when the media large made up our minds 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.
Learn the overall record from the Wall Boulevard Magazine.
