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Warner Bros. Studio Tour | Photo courtesy of Kārlis Dambrāns/Flickr
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Attorneys for “The Matrix Resurrections” co- producer Village Roadshow Films have filed new court papers urging a judge to deny a motion by Warner Bros. to either strike or force arbitration of the plaintiff’s amended complaint alleging the studio’s decision to release the film simultaneously on HBO Max and in theaters was a breach of contract.
Warner Bros. attorneys state in their previously filed court papers that the revised Village Roadshow complaint brought March 25 in Los Angeles Superior Court adding Warner Media LLC as a defendant was done so in alleged violation of a Feb. 15 court order imposing a stay to assist the court and the parties in managing the case. They also maintain that the plaintiff’s lawyers stated only a few weeks earlier that they planned no such amendment.
But in court papers filed Wednesday, lawyers for Village Roadshow say Warner Bros.’ motion should be denied because the revised suit “changes neither the basic factual allegations nor the relief set forth” in the original complaint.
“WB’s motion … is yet another attempt in a series of efforts to curtail Village’s rights to seek the equitable relief it is entitled to request from the court,” the Village Roadshow lawyers argue in their court papers.
Warner Bros’ motion is “the latest salvo in WB’s strategy to throw unwarranted procedural roadblocks in front of Village’s rights so that WB can sweep its actions and those of Warner Media under the cloak of arbitration,” Village Roadshow attorneys further argue in their court papers.
In the original suit filed Feb. 7 in Los Angeles Superior Court, Village Roadshow also alleges that Warner Bros. moved the release date of the film to 2021 from 2022 to help HBO Max attract more subscribers, purposely harming the film’s box office receipts as a result.
In their court papers, the Warner Bros. attorneys maintain that all but Village Roadshow’s added claim for breach of the state’s Unfair Competition Law are a rehash of its original complaint and it also is subject to arbitration along with the declaratory relief cause of action, Warner Bros. attorneys maintain in their court papers.
A hearing on Warner Bros.’ motion is scheduled May 17 before Judge David S. Cunningham III.
