Village Roadshow, iconic movie firm behind The Matrix, Joker and PVR cinemas, goes bankrupt amid swimsuit with Warner Bros | Hollywood
Village Roadshow, the manufacturing home that gave The Matrix movies and was one of many companions behind the multiplex increase in India, has filed for chapter within the US amid a long-drawn authorized battle with Warner Bros Discovery Inc. (Additionally learn: The Matrix turns 25: Keanu Reeves’ seminal movie is that uncommon sci-fi film the place nothing is dumbed down)
Village Roadshow recordsdata for chapter
Village Roadshow Leisure Group, which produced franchises just like the Matrix and Ocean’s 11, sought chapter safety in Delaware on Monday with $223.8 million in asset-backed secured notes and $163.1 million of senior secured debt, in line with courtroom paperwork.
The corporate, primarily based in each the US and Australia, had struggled to bounce again from the pandemic stoop and the 2023 Hollywood writers’ strike, which delayed movie productions. Its liquidity issues, nonetheless, stemmed largely from an ongoing arbitration with long-standing associate Warner.
In 2022, Village Roadshow Leisure filed an arbitration over the discharge of The Matrix Resurrections, the most recent chapter of the film collection, on the HBO Max streaming platform, allegedly depriving the corporate of theatre revenues. The corporate additionally accused Warner of “shutting it out of its rights to co-own and co-finance” new chapters of the movies that it had first developed, it mentioned within the submitting.
The specter of a possible arbitration award “might flatten the corporate’s steadiness sheet,” and even when the lawsuit is resolved, its key relationship with Warner has been “irreparably decimated,” Village Roadshow Leisure mentioned.
Village Roadshow and PVR
The corporate was based in 1997 and has produced and launched over 100 movies, together with Joker, The Nice Gatsby and The LEGO Film. Owned by Falcon Strategic Companions and Vine Media Alternatives since 2017, Village Roadshow Leisure appointed Keith Maib, a senior managing director at Accordion Companions, as chief restructuring officer in January.
Within the Nineteen Nineties, Village Roadshow heralded the multiplex increase in India when it shaped PVR (initially Priya Village Roadshow) in collaboration with the Bijlis. Village Roadshow pulled out of the settlement in 2003. Over time, PVR—now PVR INOX—grew to become the biggest cinema chain in South Asia.
(With Bloomberg inputs)
