Warner Bros. Lends In Trouble Over 'Matrix Resurrections' Day-and-Date HBO Max Release

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Los Angeles, February 8 - Last year, Walt Disney company faced the heat over Scarlett Johansson's "Black Widow's" day-and-date Disney+ release, which reportedly cost Disney a whopping $40 million to settle the lawsuit filed against it. And now, the same is happening with Warner Bros.

Village Roadshow Pictures, the producers of the recently released science fiction action film, "The Matrix Resurrections", has sued Warner Bros. for breaching the contract. The Keanu Reeves-fronted movie was released in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously in December last year, which is the reason behind the lawsuit.



Village Roadshow Pictures has alleged that Warner Bros. is prioritizing HBO Max to increase streamer's popularity at the cost of movies box office revenue.

"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, especially as compared to a 2022 exclusive theatrical release", states the complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Warner Bros. said in a statement, "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".



The production company alleged that "The Matrix Resurrections" was supposed to release in 2022, but was moved up by Warner Bros. to boost HBO Max's subscribers. The day-and-date release of The Matrix sequel really put a massive dent in its box office potential as the movie grossed only $37 million domestically. It is also causing huge losses to actors, producers, and other financial partners whose revenue depends on the film's box office numbers.

Warner Bros. renegotiated contracts tied to box office performance when it announced that it would put its entire slate of 2021 movies onto HBO Max and in theaters. However, according to THR, the lawsuit said no such deal was reached with Village Roadshow over Matrix Resurrections, adding that the rushed release caused it to be rampantly pirated, further hurting its box office returns.

Stay tuned...