‘The Matrix Resurrections’ turned out to be a massive failure, both critically and commercially. Now, it looks like it doesn’t end here. Village Roadshow Pictures, the co-producers on the film, recently sued WB for breach of contract.
The covid pandemic has caused the cinematic world to enter a standstill. Several films’ releases were halted and of the films that were released, many opted for a hybrid release, OTT and theatrical. However, this isn’t the best strategy as was observed before with the release of the film ‘Black Widow’. Scarlett Johansson sued Marvel over a breach of contract as her solo film as Black Widow opted for an OTT release along with a theatrical one which somehow ate away her bonus that she was expecting following a major theatrical run. Now, the same has been happening with the WB.
Highlights —
- Warner Bros. sued over ‘Matrix Resurrections’ release
- Co-financers Village Roadshow upset on Warner Bros
Warner Bros. decided to release the fourth Matrix film on the online streaming service along with the theatres. It wasn’t a part of the contract Village Roadshow pictures had signed with WB. However, the contract was signed before the pandemic happened. So, the confusion became inevitable. But things have escalated to a point where Village Roadshow pictures have decided to sue their co-producers.
Warner Bros. sued over ‘Matrix Resurrections’ release
‘The Matrix Resurrections’ was released on December 22 worldwide, but it lost a great deal of profit to the simultaneous HBO Max release. The film starred Keanu Reeves and Carrie Ann Moss in the main lead role and gave a bad critical and commercial performance. The film only made $37 million in the US and the film’s worldwide collection reached only $153 million. Made on a gigantic budget of $190 million, the film did not even recover its cost. It led the co-producers, the Village Roadshow Pictures, to incur heavy losses.

Co-financers Village Roadshow upset on Warner Bros
“WB’s strategy not only ensured that The Matrix Resurrections would be a bust at the box office, but it also inflicted serious harm to the entire Matrix franchise”, the lawsuit claims. “There can be no doubt that the abysmal theatrical box office sales figures from The Matrix Resurrections dilute the value of this tent pole franchise as a film’s lack of profitability generally prevents studios from investing in additional sequels and derivative films in the near term.”
When the film was released, the reviews were less than flattering. The reviewers called it an ‘unnecessary’ sequel which had no point for existing. Hence, the VRP had nothing much to gain from the film, only losses, critically and financially.
However, more than one decision contributed to the film’s abysmal performance. One of them was pushing the film’s release ahead from the originally scheduled March 2022. The film was eventually released in December 2021, which was done to ensure more HBO Max subscriptions towards the end of the year. What also worked terribly against the film’s luck was the worldwide wave of the Omicron variant of Coronavirus.
VRP is also alleging that WB has breached the contract between the two companies whose partnerships had lasted more than 20 years. Apparently, the company has invested more than $4 billion in the WB projects. Village Roadshow Pictures also had issues regarding the sequels to ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and ‘The Edge of Tomorrow’.
However, WB has claimed that the lawsuit has no substance, and they are confident that the ruling will be in their favour. Let’s see how the entire drama ends. But one thing is for sure, the ties between the two production giants won’t be the same.
Tell us in the comments if you think that the Village Roadshow lawsuit has any actual substance to it. What your review for ‘The Matrix Resurrection’ was? Also, Stay updated with DKODING on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
