news culture Matrix Resurrections: a co-producer sues Warner!
Released on December 22, Matrix Resurrections, which was however expected, is now considered a “flap” at the box office. Despite being released in China, the film did not generate enough revenue to cover production costs. Several things can explain this failure, but one of them will lead Warner Bros. before the courts.
Marking the return of Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, Matrix Resurrections is as much a sequel as a reboot of the famous trilogy of the Wachowski sisters. Critics and audiences were very divided over the film, which unfortunately didn’t failed to attract as many people to theaters as Warner Bros. would have liked. Additionally, in North America, the film is also released on HBO Maxwhich, in times of holidays and pandemic, did not help the rooms to sell their places.
A pill that is difficult to pass
With around 200 million budget, Matrix Resurrections did not earn that just over $140 million at the worldwide box office, and should not succeed in reaching 160 million. Yet in China the film had little competition, while in the West the film was released soon after. Spider-Man No Way Homewhich now makes part of the top 6 of the most profitable films all time.
This failure does not please the Village Roadshow Entertainment group, co-producer of the movie, which filed a complaint against Warner Bros. for breach of contract. Concretely, the group accuses Warner Bros. to have deprived him of part of his income by also releasing the film on HBO Max. If you follow a little news about cinema and streaming platforms, you surely remember a similar case between Disney and Scarlett Johansson around the movie Black Widowand statements of Denis Villeneuvedirector of Duneswho believed that these practices constituted a threat to cinema in general.
In the complaint filed, and whose content is relayed by the Wall Street Journal, Warner Bros is accused of having released the film only for the purpose of boosting the number of subscriptions before the end of the calendar year, and that this “despite the fact that this would decimate the film’s box office receipts and deprive Village Roadshow of the same economic spinoffs as Warner Bros and its affiliates”. Thus, unless there is a financial agreement between the parties, the case will be settled before the judges.
