They're doing it. They're making a new Matrix movie with Keanu

I always kind of assumed that if they did a new Matrix movie it would be a sequel, but I didn't really expect them to bring back Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss to reprise their roles. I kind of assumed it'd get a soft reboot kind of thing with a Neo-ish character, but not Neo himself. I'm sure there are more stories to tell in the universe but it's a little weird to be coming back to the well 20 years later. It better be a spectacle!

Weird day for movie news!

The weirdest thing about all this (okay maybe not the weirdest) is that they're considering recasting Morpheus because hes too old but not Neo or Trinity? Also, they all fucking died!

I'm still on board though. It could be terrible but i'd rather have this than a remake.

Morpheus lived. EDIT: Though, I guess he dies in one of the storylines in The Matrix Online, which was originally supposed to be considered canon.

I think the true weirdest thing is that, as of today's reporting and official news release, only Lana Wachowski is slated to write and direct.

I like that universe a whole lot, and while the sequels were flawed I grew to enjoy and appreciate them over time. And the Wachowskis have done some interesting stuff since then.

Looking forward to seeing this more than I expected to.

@inevpatoria:

They probably wont acknowledge this ever happend but I remember dammit!

@boozak: I'd forgotten this had ever happened until seconds after posting.

The Wachowskis are better at recognizing their multimedia canon than most filmmakers, so who knows. I bet his death will be the exact reason they're recasting the character. But, as you said, no idea what they're doing with Neo and Trinity.

They are really going to have to do a lot of ret-conning to make this work.

Hmm, I dunno they only made one Matrix movie so it shouldn't be too hard.

First thought was Neo and Trin don't actually exist and just live within the Matrix, would be a nice twist if they end up being the villains.

I feel like a new Matrix movie needs to get back to basics and follow more closely after the first film and I'm not sure how they do that if they're beholden to Matrix: Revolutions. Also I feel like the entire aesthetic of the Matrix is so late 90s, so it'll be weird to see a brand new movie with the same sensibilities.

I'm intrigued but I have to say, the Wachowskis miss more often than they hit for me, and I'm not sure what else the Matrix has to do without a complete reboot. Hell, thanks to the lore, they could just call it Matrix: Reboot and it would actually fit.

I mean, it can't possibly be any worse than Reloaded or Revolutions.. God I hope.

That's dope, but I wish they would get somebody else to direct/write it though. I thought everything after the original (besides the first sequel and animatrix) was pretty mediocre. I would love a new take on it

i can't imagine a reality where this works out.

it's a perpetual bummer to me that fictional universes that brim with potential (the matrix with this film, star wars centering on the skywalkers, star trek with the new picard series, mass effect with the need for a shepard-like stand-in) are continuously dragged back down to earth to chase the same high that brought the IP success. i get why it happens (brand recognition, star power, etc.), but maaaaaaan does it sap me of enthusiasm.

i do love carrie-ann moss though- girl is fucking dope. that opening scene of the first movie justifies the existence of the entire franchise.

I had only seen Matrix one for quite a while. Years later, I was home sick and planned to watch all three on Netflix...

...Matrix 2 was enough for me to not bother even attempting Matrix 3.

@nutter: It looks like you *ahem* dodged a bullet there!

Sure, why not. Just remember to keep the green tint.

I’m not sure if I have actually seen Revolutions since I saw it in the theatre. I still remember the confused laughing within the audience, when agent Smith did his most stereotypical evil villain laugh.

I loved the Matrix, and I even liked the sequels. But what could they do with Neo? The story's done, over with. Bad guys defeated. No one left to dropkick.

I think a side-story could be neat, though. Something in the vein of the excellent Animatrix - get some new characters breaking out for the first time. Explore some crazy philosophical ideas. Make the AI the good guy this time, or at least sympathetic. It's a really interesting universe those guys have created - let's do something other than bam bam kablooey kapow. Someone call Charlie Booker.

I think there are enough cultural and technological differences between what the world was like in the trilogy's era and now to at least be somewhat positive that a new Matrix could be interesting again in new ways.

The worry that it'll feel like another leather and sunglasses '90s romp is a valid one to have, but I seriously doubt it'll be that, because that was a specific era within the simulation. It will probably be our current era within that simulation, with the 'real world' and Zion being very different, or something else entirely. If Neo is somehow reborn and re-dons the late '90s/early '00s garb, and no one bats an eye, my brain will detach itself from my spinal column. I expect a very modernized take on that style.

The thing that makes me skeptical and not excited in the least, though, is that 85% of the Wachowskis-helmed movies were swings and misses for me.

I don't understand how the Wachowski siblings are allowed to make more films. It's the same incredulity I have towards M. Night Shyamalan and his overall poorly received body of work. The siblings haven't directed a profitable film since Matrix Revolutions, even if they've been involved in V for Vendetta. That's 16 years of, ostensibly, professional failure as directors.

I suspect this is all riding on Keanu's revival as an action star.

I am of two minds on this, excited for what hopefully will be a good sequel/reboot, and the other is why they are using the old cast (particularly based on what happens in Revolutions).

Having seen other recent Wachowski films, I am more than a little worried, but at the worst it will look amazing.

Ok...

On one hand, I have 0 confidence in them pulling a decent movie. 2 and 3 were big, spectacular fluff, and really sour me into the prospect of more matrix.

On the other hand, I would be really pissed if they went for a remake and recasted Reeves. Actually, I think this movie only gets done because of his star power...

Somebody get Hannibal Buress on the horn!

There is only one Matrix movie.

If you make a 4th one, there’ll probably still be only one Matrix movie.

And yeah, I’ll go see it...

I'm actually VERY okay with this. It probably won't be good, but I was thinking about what a modern Matrix would even have to be. And it will be an excuse to finally rewatch the trilogy and decide if 2 and 3 were really that bad or if it was just my own fanboy backlash (still, fuck having mech suits to fight robo squids that can't attack anything that gets up in your grill AND doesn't even have glass around the cockpit).

As for dead folk coming back:

The lore already supports a turtles all the way down "the real world was a matrix too" angle. When trinitiy died Neo untethered her and she woke up. When he died he also was untethered and woke up. Morpheus is still "happy" in his ruined Earth and Matrix. And the new movie is down a different chain of matrices as they go from Earth to Earth to awaken people

Or: Remember, Neo was not the first The One and The Matrix was not the first The Matrix. Colonel Sanders said so. So after the events of the movies and maybe even the MMO we are on the next Matrix as people decided they didn't want to live in a fucked over death planet.

Maybe WE are living in the matrix and those who have woken up are making these movies and sending them to us to try and reach us and tell us what is really going on.

Think about it sheeple!

For some reason I thought Keanu Reeves retired lol! I forgot he’s the John Wick guy... I haven’t seen those. But he has to be like 60 now, right? Are they going to do a thing like they did with Yoda where he throws his cane to the floor and does a bunch of flips around the room? =D

I wonder if they’re going to do the same thing as with that new Blade Runner or Indiana Jones or Star Wars where they tell basically the same story as the movies from decades ago, and have the old actors kind of stand around and act like npcs in a cutscene while the new actors do the action and main scenes

I highly doubt it can be what the first Matrix film did to the film industry, then again very few films ever do what the Matrix was able to do. Personally I don't think it holds up nearly as well as others think, but at the same time, I feel that it's message is more on point today than when it it first came out.

I will be interested in to see what it will be, as long as it doesn't follow what the 2nd or 3rd movies did.

Is it weird that the entire Matric universe just seems so "meh" to me now. I liked the first movie, and I even felt I tolerated teh 2nd and 3rd. But really, I do not need another one. I think even more than many movies the Matrix IS all about late 90s culture....it has no other purpose expect as late 90s sci-fi.

It is not timeless like Alien, Star Wars, 2001 A Space Odyssey.

Sci-fi Movie scale:
The Lawnmower Man <-----*----------|--------------> Star Wars : A New Hope


The *Matrix is very close to the "The Lawnmower Man" side of the scale. It is very much a movie illustrative of a certain time in our culture where "The Internet"; "Super Heroes", and "Realistic Video Games" were still mysterious to most people. "Yo, man you would like deconstruct the ideas of super heroes into like a video game mythos...and like super-heroes are like Jesus if you think about it - woah!"