In May, representatives for various studios and production companies gathered at a Los Angeles law firm for an auction held by Village Roadshow, one of the most prolific behind-the-scenes financiers in Hollywood. It had filed for bankruptcy earlier this year and its vast film library and studio business were up for sale.

Warner Bros. , which had a longtime partnership with Village Roadshow that soured in recent years, had execs among the attendees. They were interested not so much in the library, which generates roughly $50 million annually, but something called “derivative rights” that give the owner the opportunity to participate in certain sequels and remakes. Those rights have emerged as something of a headache for WBD, with the studio refusing to develop titles in which Village Road

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