Latest news with #Ocean's
BBC News
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The Matrix film producer files for bankruptcy
Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, the film production company behind franchises such as The Matrix, Ocean's and the Joker, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US, according to a filing with a Delaware firm has blamed its financial troubles on a legal battle with its former partner Warner Bros (WB) and a "failed and costly endeavour" into the production of independent films and television a bid to mitigate some of its financial problems, Village Roadshow is proposing to sell its extensive film library for $365m (£281m).The company's debts are estimated to be between $500m and $1bn, according to the court documents. Village RoadShow and WB produced and co-owned dozens of films over the years but their relationship soured in early 2022 after the release of the latest Matrix film - The Matrix Resurrections - on the streaming platform HBO Roadshow alleged WB had shut it out of its rights to any sequels and prequels of the films the two companies had previously worked on together."The WB arbitration has caused the company to incur more than $18m in legal fees, nearly all of which remain unpaid", chief restructuring officer Keith Maib said in a court legal battle, according to Mr Maib, has "irreparably decimated the working relationship" between the two companies, ultimately ending "the most lucrative nexus" for Village Roadshow's historic other issue faced by Village Roadshow was a costly studio business launched in 2018. None of the films or television series independently produced as part of that endeavour delivered any other film companies in the US, Village Roadshow also struggled with a slump in demand from the pandemic and the disruption from the strike action by Hollywood actors and writers, which started in May December, the Writers Guild of America banned its members from working with Village Roadshow over the company's alleged failure to pay its contributors.
Reuters
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Reuters
Soderbergh's starry thriller 'Black Bag' mixes marriage and espionage
LONDON, March 11 (Reuters) - A married couple of top intelligence agents have their loyalties tested in Steven Soderbergh's new spy drama "Black Bag". Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett play British spies George Woodhouse and Kathryn St. Jean, who both work at an organisation where a traitor is scheming to steal top secret technology. Expert interrogator George gets tasked with finding the mole and discovers his wife is among the five potential culprits. He rounds up the suspects, played by Naomie Harris, Rege-Jean Page, Marisa Abela and Tom Burke, at his house for an evening of "fun and games" aimed at eliciting information from the group of professional deceivers. "The core of the story is actually where does George's loyalty lie? Is it to his wife or his country?" Fassbender said at the film's London premiere on Tuesday. "It helps when somebody is doing the same job as you in understanding what it's all about. Obviously, it's heightened in this scenario because it's espionage," said Fassbender, who is married to actress Alicia Vikander. Blanchett said: "The research we did is so few people who work in espionage are able to maintain and sustain a relationship. All that stuff's there in the movie." A black bag is the term the operatives use to refer to information they cannot divulge to anyone, their partners included. "Black Bag", which was written by David Koepp and directed by "Traffic" and the "Ocean's" movie trilogy filmmaker Soderbergh, features more dialogue than action, adding a theatre-like quality to the London-set project, Page said. "I think this film is primarily concerned with the human cost and the human impact of spying," said Page, known for his performance in television series "Bridgerton". "It's very much about how can you trust anything when you lie about everything? How do you carry that in a relationship? It goes in pretty deep on that," Page, who plays Colonel James Stokes, said. "Sitting across the table playing this kind of verbal, psychological tennis is no weak link in this incredibly high-quality cast." "Black Bag", which also stars Pierce Brosnan as the head of the spy agency, begins its global cinematic rollout on March 12.
