The Wall Street Journal has reported on the filing of a lawsuit by Village Roadshow Pictures towards Warner Bros. The lawsuit was filed over an alleged breach of contract regarding the release of the film The Matrix Resurrections on HBO Max.

The Matrix Resurrections released simultaneously on both HBO Max and in movie theaters on December 22, 2021, which is the subject of the lawsuit. Village Roadshow alleges that the simultaneous release disproportionately benefits the HBO Max brand, while diminishing the Matrix IP.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been many films that have released via streaming services since there are fewer people willing to go to movie theaters. It is simple to see what a film is worth in terms of ticket sales. Calculating how much revenue a film produces through a streaming service is impossible because of the subscription model. While the amount of times the film has been streamed is something that can be measured through analytics, whether or not the film was watched by multiple people at once cannot be measured. A family of five could watch a film once and it would only count as one view on a streaming service. That same family of five would have to purchase five tickets at a movie theater.

The lawsuit also alleges that the release date of the film was changed from April to December in order to dis-incentivize theater attendance in favor of streaming the film.

A lawsuit like this is a product of the shifting landscape of how film is consumed as audiences move away from movie theaters and towards their personal laptops and televisions to enjoy films. It is unknown how the outcome of this lawsuit will affect the film industry as a whole, but it is clear that this industry is going through massive changes.