Documents Reveal Some ‘Matrix’ Profits
LOS ANGELES – New divorce documents freezing some assets of “The Matrix Reloaded” co-director Larry Wachowski shed light on how much the mysterious filmmaker and his brother, Andy, were paid for the sci-fi sequels.
The court papers, which a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge signed May 14, restrained the brothers’ company, Anarchos Productions, from disbursing “monies, property or anything of value” to Larry Wachowski.
Attorneys for Wachowski’s wife, Thea Bloom, made the request. She’s divorcing the 37-year-old filmmaker after about nine years of marriage.
The documents include letters between the couple’s attorneys in which Wachowski’s business representative, Peter Grossman, said the brothers were to be paid about $16 million for their work on sequels to 1999’s “The Matrix” and a video game, not counting profit participation deals set to be paid in 2005.
Grossman’s letter said Warner Bros. paid $5 million for the scripts, $2.2 million for preproduction services and $6.6 million during the shoot. The brothers were to receive an additional $2.2 million on completion of “The Matrix Reloaded” and the November sequel “The Matrix Revolutions,” the letter said.
Grossman didn’t immediately return a call for comment. Bloom’s attorney, Dena Kleeman, declined to be interviewed.
The Chicago-raised siblings are notoriously secretive and have hidden from the press since the success of the original “Matrix.” Since it debuted last week, “Reloaded” has earned about $152 million.
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