Here's a little something from The Industry people, date March 18th.
"It’s a rough indicator of where we are in 2025 when one of the last independent production companies working with the studios goes under.
Here’s their balance sheet:
$400 M in library value of 100+ films (89 of which they co-own with Warner Bros.)
$500 M - $1bn total debt
$1.4 M in debt to WGA, whose members were told to stop working with Roadshow in December
$794 K owed to Bryan Cranston’s prod company
$250 K owed to Sony Pictures TV
$300 K/month overhead
The crowning expense that brought down this 36-year-old production company is the $18 M in (unpaid) legal fees from a lengthy and currently unresolved arbitration with their long-time partner Warner Bros, who they’ve had a co-financing arrangement since the late 90s.
Roadshow sued when WBD released their Matrix Resurrections (2021) film in theatres and on Max simultaneously, causing Roadshow to withhold their portion of the $190 M production costs.
Due to mounting financial pressures, Village Roadshow’s CEO, Steve Mosko, a veteran film and TV exec, left the company in January.
Now, this all falls on the shoulders of Jim Moore, CEO of Vine, an equity firm that owns Village Roadshow, as well as Luc Besson’s production company EuropaCorp.
We’ll see who lines up to buy the library and settle with Warner Bros."
What are your thoughts on this? Who will step in and buy Village Roadshow? Would it be worth salvaging? And what of this $18m in legal fees, who would want to inherit that as part of a business strategy?
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I think someone will step in and buy Village Roadshow, Geoff Hall. It's been around for a long time/people know the brand. I think it'll cost less to turn the company around than start a new one from scratch. I'm not an expert in finance and business though, so I could be wrong.
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You don't buy Village Roadshow as a short term investment, especially with all of that debt... but that's also something you could negotiate down, too. It has a name and the contracts it has alone are probably worth it... I wouldn't be shocked if someone like SkyDance scoops it up.