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December 16, 2021 (Toronto)
December 22, 2021 (United States)
The Matrix Resurrections is a 2021 American science fiction action film produced, co-written, and directed by Lana Wachowski. It is the sequel to The Matrix Revolutions and the fourth installment in The Matrix film series. Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Lambert Wilson, and Jada Pinkett Smith reprise their roles from previous films in the series, being joined by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Christina Ricci. The film was produced by Village Roadshow Pictures and Venus Castina Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Set sixty years after the events of Revolutions, the film follows Neo, who lives a seemingly ordinary life under his original identity as Thomas A. Anderson in San Francisco, but when a new version of Morpheus offers him the red pill and reopens his mind to the world of the Matrix, which has become more secure and dangerous in the years since the Smith infection, Neo joins a group of rebels to fight a new enemy.
Following the release of Revolutions, the Wachowskis denied the possibility of another Matrix film, though rumors emerged since then about a possible fourth Matrix film and the studio constantly expressed interest in reviving the franchise, hiring Zak Penn to write a new screenplay after the Wachowskis refused every offer to create more sequels. In late 2019, a fourth Matrix film was finally announced, with Lana Wachowski returning as director without her sister, and Reeves and Moss reprising their roles. Filming started in February 2020 but was halted the next month by the COVID-19 pandemic. Wachowski toyed with the possibility of shelving the project and leaving the film unfinished, but the cast insisted that she finish it. Filming resumed in August 2020, concluding three months later.
The Matrix Resurrections had its world premiere in Toronto, Canada on December 16, 2021, and was released by Warner Bros. Pictures theatrically in other countries on December 22, 2021. It is also available for streaming digitally on the ad-free tier of HBO Max in the United States for a month beginning on that same date. It received praise for the performances and action sequences, but criticism for the writing, execution, visuals, and recasting of Morpheus and Agent Smith.