On Wednesday, Alcon Media Group won a bid for $417.5 million to acquire the Village Roadshow film library, which includes 108 titles and the rights to some major franchise films, including “The Matrix,” “Wonka,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” the “Ocean’s” films, the “Sherlock Holmes” series, “Joker,” “Ready Player One,” and more.
All those films and others were the product of a reliable and lucrative co-production and co-financing deal Village Roadshow had with Warner Bros. Pictures dating back to 1997, all before Village Roadshow’s bankruptcy and an ugly legal fight that continues over the decision to put “The Matrix Resurrections” onto HBO Max day-and-date with theaters back in 2021.
Related Stories
Perhaps inexplicably, Warner Bros. didn’t win the rights to that library themselves, putting the studio in the unfortunate position to need to partner with a new company moving forward. So what happens to those franchises now?
Alcon is behind several Denis Villeneuve films like “Blade Runner 2049,” “Prisoners,” and “Arrival,” films like “Insomnia” and “The Blind Side,” and it also most recently made the “Garfield” movie for Sony and is working on the “Blade Runner 2099” series for Amazon. With the addition of the Village Roadshow library, it gives Alcon one of the largest film libraries for an independent film company (Lionsgate excluded), roughly 150 titles.
While Alcon isn’t today a partner with Warner Bros., it’s possible they soon will be. Alcon acquired the Village Roadshow library, derivative rights, and cash flow with their bid. It’s still just a 50 percent stake, but a press release announcing the news says the library generates roughly $50 million annually. Not too shabby. So to make any other follow-up or sequel based on one of these films in the library, both Warner Bros. and Alcon now have to agree upon it.
Why then did Warner Bros. not pick up the Village Roadshow library itself? A source told IndieWire Alcon is really just getting the participations and the naked copyrights to those Village Roadshow films, and WB still owns the distribution rights to those franchises, so it decided not to pursue acquiring the library.
Another source though says WB did make a bid — and was outbid — by Alcon. It stands to reason that WBD, with $37 billion still in debt, can’t afford to throw around so much cash, even if it would pay off in the long term.
Alcon once upon a time had a rare put deal with Warner Bros., one that produced as many as three films a year for smaller movies like “Dolphin Tale,” but that was the old Warner Bros., and this is the David Zaslav-run Warner Bros. Discovery. Times have changed, and WBD may still have a say in the matter.
Puck noted Thursday that Warner Bros. could contest the derivative rights to the Village Roadshow library, and that a hearing could take place this summer (Warner Bros. had no comment on rumors of a hearing).
But if Warner Bros. can’t win back the derivative rights in court, you’d imagine it and Alcon would have to come to some sort of deal if they ever wanted to make yet another “Matrix” or “Ocean’s” film, both of which WB already has projects in the works. Would Warner Bros. ever turn the distribution rights to one of these big franchises over to another studio if the right offer came along and Alcon wanted to force its hand? Who knows. But we’ll be surprised if this marriage lasts as long as the Village Roadshow one did.
