Village Roadshow has officially filed for bankruptcy. Village Roadshow Entertainment Group is a production company whose film division, Village Roadshow Pictures, was founded in 1989. The Australian media company Village Roadshow also holds a 3% stake in the company. The American producer’s first ever film was The Delinquents, a 1989 release that was distributed by Warner Bros. Since then, the company has gone on to produce major films including The Matrix, Miss Congeniality, Zoolander, Ocean’s Eleven, Happy Feet, Joker, and more recently, Wonka.
Per Variety, Village Roadshow has now filed for bankruptcy. The company officially filed for Company 11 in Delaware on Monday, March 17. Court documents cite $223.8 million in ᴀsset-backed secured notes and $163.1 million in senior secured debt. The filing followed a legal battle with Warner Bros., which was talked about in the court documents, an excerpt from which can be read below:
The company historically enjoyed a prolific co-production, co-financing and co-ownership relationship with WB, which included the production, ownership and derivative rights flowing from 89 тιтles – including the ‘Matrix’ franchise – and comprised the vast majority of the Debtors’ business.
The WB arbitration has caused the company to incur more than $18,000,000 in legal fees, nearly all of which remain unpaid, and presents the threat of a potential arbitration award that could flatten the company’s balance sheet, but that is not the full extent of its impact.
Even if the WB arbitration is resolved, the company believes that it has irreparably decimated the working relationship between WB and the company, which has been the most lucrative nexus for the company’s historic success in the entertainment industry.
What This Means For Village Roadshow
This Decision Follows A Legal Battle With Warner Bros.
As evidenced by the court documents, it was an ongoing and costly legal battle with Warner Bros. that was a huge contributing factor to Village Roadshow going bankrupt. For years, the two companies had been in a co-financing relationship, involving, as stated in the recent documents, “production, ownership, and derivative rights.” Back in 2022, Warner Bros. controversially made the decision to release The Matrix Resurrections on Max simultaneously with its theatrical release. Village Roadshow claimed this violated their contract and sabotaged the release, so they sued Warner Bros. for breach of contract.
That case remains an arbitration case, with a hearing scheduled on April 25. Regardless of these results, however, Village Roadshow’s bankruptcy claim makes it clear that Warner Bros. “has irreparably decimated the working relationship between” the two groups, causing Village Roadshow’s downfall. The bankruptcy claim could have an impact on the company’s upcoming projects, which include Ready Player Two, Sherlock Holmes 3, San Andreas 2, and I Am Legend 2.
Our Take On The Village Roadshow Bankruptcy Claim
This Could Cause Project Delays
Village Roadshow‘s bankruptcy claims state that bidder CP Ventura LLC has agreed to pay $365 million to buy the company’s existing library. This might help control the distribution of their existing projects but will do very little to protect their current slate. This will likely mean that upcoming тιтles like Ready Player Two and other projects will fall to co-financier Warner Bros., but with the large company losing their partner, it seems likely that these huge projects could get delayed.
Source: Variety
