It doesn’t look like fans will get the chance to pop another pill and re-enter The Matrix any time soon. Despite a somewhat open ending, there don’t appear to be any plans to craft another sequel to follow The Matrix: Resurrections.
According to producer James McTeigue:
“Look, for us, I think, at the moment, it’s just the movie you’ve seen. We’ve got no prequel in mind. We’ve got no sequel in mind. We’ve got no further trilogy. But I think the film also works where it’s really open to audience interpretation, like what happened in those 60 years before they fished Neo out again, or Thomas Anderson to Neo.”
The first Matrix movie arrived in 1999 and was revolutionary, both in terms of mind-bending science fiction storytelling and in technical visual effects technology. Let’s face it, EVERY action movie that came out in the decade+ after The Matrix knocked it off in some way, whether it was the slo-mo kung-fu, techno soundtrack, or leather outfits.
Unfortunately, the two sequels, both released in 2003, The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions failed to recapture the awe and magic that enchanted initial audiences. Those two installments may have poisoned the brand in general.
Or maybe it was simply the fact that these movies are nearly two decades old and don’t resonate with modern filmgoers. It doesn’t help that the directors of the originals, The Wachowskis, never delivered another hit. In fact, most of their movies– including Speed Racer (which I absolutely LOVE), Ninja Assassin, Cloud Atlas, and Jupiter Ascending– flopped hard at the box office.
(On the plus side, their Netflix series Sense 8 was a huge hit with a die-hard fanbase.)
As for The Matrix: Resurrections, unfortunately, it was simultaneously released in theaters and on HBO Max, so many simply chose to stay at home and watch it for free. It also became the most highly-pirated movie of the week thanks to that HBO Max release, which allowed pirates to download a crystal clear copy and post it on the web. So there were at least some people that wanted to see it, even if they weren’t willing to pay money to do so.
It also opened one week after the behemoth that is Spider-Man: No Way Home, and there was really no way that a sci-fi action movie was going to take down Sony’s wallcrawler.
Ultimately, as of this writing, The Matrix: Resurrections has only made $68.7 million worldwide on a budget of $190 million. Even if there HAD been plans to make another sequel, this poor performance would have likely killed them.
What did you think of The Matrix: Resurrections? Did you watch it at home on HBO Max or did you venture to the theater to check it out? Are you upset that there won’t be any other movies in the franchise?
