Warner Bros. has officially scheduled a 2021 release date for its as-yet untitled The Matrix 4.The original Matrix trilogy concluded with 2003’s The Matrix Revolutions, seemingly bringing the story of Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), and their battle to free humanity from the machines to an end with it. In more recent years, however, WB has been working on various ways to resurrect the popular sci-fi property on the big screen, be it with a continuation or reboot.
The studio ultimately settled on a fourth Matrix movie and made the news official a few months ago. Both Reeves and Moss will reprise their respective roles in this new chapter (in spite of Neo and Trinity’s deaths during Revolutions), with The Matrix co-creator Lana Wachowski directing solo from a screenplay she co-wrote. There’ve been several casting updates since then ahead of the start of production in early 2020, but now the film has a release date set in stone.
Today, WB announced The Matrix 4 will hit theaters on May 21, 2021. The studio had been holding onto that date for Taika Waititi’s live-action Akira adaptation, but with the project on indefinite hold for the time being (while Waititi goes off to direct Thor: Love & Thunder first), they’ve decided to hand its spot over to the new Matrix sequel instead. It’s also the same day Reeves is set to make his return as the “Baba Yaga” in Lionsgate’s John Wick 4, as it happens.
It stands to reason either The Matrix 4 or John Wick 4 will change release dates at some point in the next couple years, if only because pitting two Keanu Reeves action movie sequels (both of which are expected to be Rated R, no less) seems like a bad idea that would hurt both films. Between Lionsgate and WB, the latter already has a fairly packed slate for the rest of Summer 2021, with The Batman, Space Jam 2, and The Suicide Squad scheduled to open in June, July, and August. By comparison, John Wick 4 is the only major Summer 2021 title Lionsgate has scheduled right now, so it would be far easier for them to shift it around. They could even delay it by as little as two weeks to June 4, where it would serve as counter-programming to WB’s Sesame Street musical and Paramount’s Micronauts (both of which will gear younger than the John Wick sequel).
Whatever happens, it will be interesting to see how The Matrix 4 performs in theaters. The film has assembled a great cast around Reeves and Moss that includes Neil Patrick Harris, Jonathan Groff, and Toby Onwumere, in addition to Jada Pinkett-Smith (who’s back as Niobe), Aquaman and Watchmen’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (who may or may not be playing younger Morpheus), and Iron Fist’s Jessica Henwick - who, rumor has it, is playing a new incarnation of “The One”. And with Wachowski having come out as transgender and continued to refine her examination of themes about evolution and transformation with visually-dazzling work like Sense8 and, yes, Jupiter Ascending since Revolutions was released, it will be fascinating to see what fresh ideas she’s come up with for The Matrix 4 at this point. Fingers crossed, the sequel will live up to its potential and deliver an experience that really resonates with audiences in 2021.
Source: Warner Bros.
- Matrix 4 Release Date: 2021-12-22
