• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, February 7, 2022

Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, co-producer of "The Matrix Resurrections," has sued Warner Bros, for breach of contract, charging that WarnerMedia's decision to release the movie simultaneously on HBO Max and in cinemas hurt its box office.

The complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in Monday, also asserts that WarnerMedia's decision to postpone the movie's release date from 2021 to 2022 as being detrimental to its box office, which has yet to hit $200 million since its release in December -- far short of previous releases in the franchise.

WarnerMedia caused industry controversy and initially angered its cinema-chain partners when it cited the COVID pandemic to move its entire 2021 Warner Bros movie slate to a so-called "day and date" simultaneous release on HBO Max, dramatically expanding the industry's break with the traditional 60- to 90-day cinematic debut window.

“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,” charges the lawsuit, which was first reported by The Wall St Journal.

Although some other production companies complained about 2021 day-and-day releases by Warner Bros, none have filed lawsuits -- at least in part because WarnerMedia spent about $200 million to compensate partners for foregone box-office revenues, according to Variety.

But Village Roadshow's suit also accuses WarnerMedia -- which is expected to close its merger with Discovery Inc. in the current quarter -- with trying to cut the production company out of future franchise extensions, or what it says are its "continuing rights to co-own and co-invest in the derivative works from the films it co-owns."

Actress Scarlett Johansson sued Disney for breach of contract in 2021, claiming that the simultaneous release of "Black Widow" on Disney+ and in cinemas depressed the box office sales that largely determined her earnings on the film, costing her about $50 million. The parties ultimately settled the lawsuit, reportedly for a sum in the tens of millions.