After filing for bankruptcy this week, Village Roadshow’s vast collection of films – from The Matrix to Wonka – will be sold to the highest bidder.
Just yesterday we covered the rather sombre news that Village Roadshow had filed for bankruptcy after losing a legal war of attrition with Warner Bros studio over the latter’s decision to release The Matrix Resurrections straight onto its streaming platform back in 2021 in the wake of the global pandemic.
Despite being a decades-long producing and financing partner of Warner Bros, that long and fruitful relationship (stretching back to 1999 and the first instalment of The Matrix) wasn’t enough to convince Warner Bros to reconsider its decision and the studio’s entire 2021 slate of films was placed directly onto Max, earning the significant displeasure of other creative partners in the process.
Sensing that its own profits would be impacted by this decision, Village Roadshow took Warner Bros to court, and while it hasn’t lost that case – arbitration is still ongoing – the mounting costs of a years-long legal battle have mounted up and the production company has declared bankruptcy. The company then published a statement to the effect that even if it does ‘win’ the case, its relationship with Warner Bros lies in ruins. As such, Village Roadshow’s future is unclear at best.
Further news has emerged today, revealing that plans are afoot to sell Village Roadshow’s library of titles at auction (thanks, Screen Daily).
VREG (Village Roadshow Entertainment Group) ‘filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday with a tentative agreement to sell the library to investors Content Partners for $365m, on the understanding that other higher bids may come in. The library is said to generate approximately $50m in annual revenues.’
Speculation is rife that Warner Bros, (with whom Village Roadshow ‘co-financed over 90 films ranging from 15% to 50% ownership depending on the title’), may bid. That will surely leave a bad taste in the mouth given the part the studio has played in the demise of Village Roadshow, but that’s the cutthroat world of Hollywood for you.
Still, if you’ve got a spare few hundred million quid down the back of the sofa, you could acquire yourself part ownership of a back catalogue of titles that would make any Hollywood mogul green with envy. Of course, getting into corporate bed with Warner Bros and David Zaslav would be akin to signing up for the worst timeshare deal in the history of the world, but if you tired of playing studio simulator computer games and want to be the real thing, this could be the deal for you.
Or, if you do happen to be that flush and a friend to cinema, that money might be better spent with a donation to Medicinema.
We’ll bring you more on this story as it unfolds.
