Updated to the latest: It looks like Warner Bros. has gotten away with it.
The resurrection of the Matrix Co-producer Village Roadshow Films agreed to enter Warner Bros. arbitration. The decision to air the film simultaneously on HBO Max and in theaters was a breach of contract.
Village Roadshow attorneys presented the documents to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Cunningham on Thursday, indicating that the company is no longer considering its claims in court, a result Warner has been looking for for months.
“After reviewing possible court decisions, Village denies the right to hear Warner Bros. on May 27. “The motion to arbitrate is final and the court will make final decisions on the motion to arbitrate as final,” Roadshow’s lawyers said in their court documents.
In an initial lawsuit filed on Feb.7, Village Roadshow claims Warner Bros. moved the film’s release date from 2021 to 2022 to help HBO Max attract more subscribers, deliberately hurting the film’s box office receipts.
Village Roadshow then filed an amended lawsuit on March 25, adding Warner Media LLC as a defendant.
Warners’ attorneys said in April that the amended lawsuit was filed in violation of a February 15 court ruling that ordered the case to be suspended. They also claimed that the plaintiff’s attorneys had indicated only a few weeks earlier that they did not intend such a change.
Warner Bros. also claimed that Village Roadshow’s aggregate claim, in addition to violating state law on unfair competition, was a revision of its original complaint and that it was also subject to arbitration along with the repair of the complaint.
“Although the court has refused to hold the case, Village Roadshow continues its arbitration claims, will have access to all legal means to pursue his rights in this precious property and is confident that he will ultimately win the substance of his case.” . . officials said. In a statement at the Village Roadshow on Friday. “This is an important case not only for Village Roadshow, but for all content owners who abuse the practice of self-selling studies. “The company will demonstrate that it has the right to seek all necessary remedies, including significant damages, due to the willful and persistent breach of the parties’ agreements by the World Bank.”
Before February 15th: It appears that Village Roadshow will not accept their breach of contract and further legal action against Warner Bros. will soon be considered in court.
The next day, the film company filed the documents to expedite the dispute The resurrection of the Matrix And other movies, the Los Angeles Supreme Court said no this morning. Ruling that there was no basis to support ex parte relief, the judge rejected the request from the Village’s Kirland & Ellis attorneys to waive the term for litigation in court; Allow a preliminary precautionary motion; And it accelerated the discovery.
As the World Bank attempts to take the matter to arbitration, today’s DTLA hearing means everything will slow down a bit until mid-March, meaning this show won’t be on the schedule for nearly a month.
Updated February 14 at 12:18 pm: A week after being brought to Warner Bros. in public hearing, battling frustration at the box office The resurrection of the Matrix And in other films, Village Roadshow now wants a judge to go full throttle on the entire case.
“Village Roadshow respectfully requests that the court expedite this action, grant Village Roadshow the right to file a motion for pre-trial detention, partially cancel the ongoing complex motion and schedule all briefings, expedited discovery and hearings,” he said. . Attorneys from Kirkland & Ellis made a surprise appearance on the Los Angeles Supreme Court on Monday. “The Village Roadshow requires permission to file a motion to open this court before March 7, 2022,” they added.
In fact, hoping to hit the road louder and faster than the Mad Max movie, Village wants to hear the order he heard on Tuesday morning in downtown Los Angeles before Judge Anna Maria Luna. .
Having previously stated that it believes all the dust should be settled behind closed doors in arbitration, Warner Bros. did not respond to a request for comment on Village’s latest legal move today. If and when that happens, we will update this story.
Although the WB did not respond directly to this morning’s announcement, the studio was very blunt early Monday, responding to what it called the Village Roadshow “double actions”, calling it “this controversy.”
Previously, on the morning of February 7: Warner Bros., which managed to avoid litigation in 2021 despite a parent’s aggressive tactic against WarnerMedia’s streaming service protesting HBO Max, Village Roadshow, has filed a lawsuit.
A longtime Tent Films financier is suing the Los Angeles Supreme Court firm for breach of contract. The 50-page (read here) complaint does not break the word and criticizes “the WB’s consistent and determined coordinated efforts to remove significant value from Village Roadshow’s intellectual property.”
In a statement, Warner Bros. replied, “This is a futile attempt by Village Roadshow to avoid his contract.By participating in the arbitration we initiated against them last week. We have no doubts that this case will be resolved in our favor ”.
It is at the center of the complaint The resurrection of the Matrix, the fourth installment of the franchise, which hit the $ 150 million mark worldwide after its release in December. Village Roadshow says WarnerMedia thwarted the film’s commercial prospects by favoring streaming.
During its 25-year relationship with Warner Bros., Village Roadshow paid $ 4.5 billion to produce and distribute nearly 100 films, according to the lawsuit. There has been no previous legal scandal during this quarter century, a fact described as “unique in the entertainment industry”.
not only has Matrix The franchise grossed about $ 2 billion at the box office, the lawsuit says, but other Village Roadshow owners have also flown along after financially successful theatrical runs. costume names jester, Ocean Series, Charlie
and a chocolate factory Y The age of tomorrow.
According to Village Roadshow, when traditional cash registers set a lower factor when considering the total value of a property when managing broadcast companies, manufacturing partners stay in the bag at hand. “As a distributor and copyright owner, WB has a fiduciary duty to report all proceeds from the copyright exploitation of the Village Roadshow film, and not just what cannot be hidden,” the lawsuit claims.
The broad side of Village Roadshow comes after a tense year as WarnerMedia plans to merge $ 43 billion with Discovery, a pending deal.
Another major production partner, Legendary Entertainment, initially talked about the destination last year. Dune Y Godzilla vs. Kongas well as many other parties interested in the 2021 releases. I tried to sell the legendary GvK Netflix, but WarnerMedia stepped in and struck a deal to provide negative protection to the legend and keep the film afloat. Neither party has sued before, in part because WarnerMedia spent $ 200 million to compensate for lost office revenue from dozens of partners.
Disney, of course, had a public outburst last summer with star Scarlett Johansson suing over the Marvel speech. window avi. The case was solved a few weeks later, but revealed tensions between talent and distributors amid dramatic shifts in the booming model of streaming and movie release.
By 2020 the covid has changed the landscape and closed the theaters. For months, media companies were already engaged in a battle with Netflix to bridge the gap, taking a series of dramatic steps. With HBO Max launching Sluggish and former Amazon and Hulu CEO Jason Killar under the control of WarnerMedia after launching in May 2020, the company was increasingly looking to rock the bank. While other companies have taken more specific action, Warner Bros. has launched what has become known internally as Project Popcorn. Without warning to any of the partners, the studio streamed all 17 releases of 2021 on HBO Max, as they hit theaters.
The move, announced in late 2020, was criticized by directors including Christopher Nolan, key executives of the agency and others. However, the unrest soon subsided and the company indicated it would make decisions on individual releases rather than the entire event, in 2022.
The Village Roadshow costume destroyed Project Popcorn as “a secret plan to substantially reduce the box office and related incidental revenue generated by in-store movies.”
Although Disney raised it window avi And with some other movies in the form of premium access titles paying $ 30 more for Disney + subscribers, other distributors have gone all-in at no additional cost. Some movies have skipped theaters altogether in favor of streaming.
With a budget of more than $ 200 million in pre-tax films, WarnerMedia and the WB “actually wrenched viewers out of theaters,” the lawsuit claims. The move “does not fully comply with ‘industry standards’ and ‘common business practices in the film industry.’ Additionally, WarnerMedia is enjoying the rise in value of its subsidiary, just as WarnerMedia prepares to merge with Discovery, all while providing zero profits to Village Roadshow, Talent and other partners “.
City News Service and Tom Tapp contributed to this report.
Source: Deadline
I am Anne Johnson and I work as an author at the Fashion Vibes. My main area of expertise is beauty related news, but I also have experience in covering other types of stories like entertainment, lifestyle, and health topics. With my years of experience in writing for various publications, I have built strong relationships with many industry insiders. My passion for journalism has enabled me to stay on top of the latest trends and changes in the world of beauty.
