Today in This Is A Terrible F*cking Idea, Seriously, Whose Idea Was This news, Warner Brothers is exploring the possibility of rebootingThe Matrix.Everything is sequels and reboots these days, so it’s not outside the realm of expectation that someone would have this idea—apparently producer Joel Silver had previously approached the studio about doing a new/anotherMatrixmovie—it’s just that it’s so obviously a bad idea I can’t believe it’s survived long enough to make into a trade. The Hollywood Reporter says Warners “is in the early stages” of developing a “relaunch” ofThe Matrixwhich to me doesn’t sound like a Morpheus spin-off or a “twenty years later” sequel, but a full on reboot.
The Matrixwas lightning in a bottle and it can never be reproduced or recaptured. Hell, the Wachowskis weren’t even able to deliver decent sequels, and the trilogy became a case ofdiminishing returns. The only reasonThe Matrix不记得电影灾难is because 1) the first movie is (still) AMAZING, and 2) theStar Warsprequels were going down in an even greater conflagration at the same time. But it’s not likeThe Matrixhas a strong track record—the original series flamed out.
And it doesn’t sound like the Wachowskis are involved, and neither is Keanu Reeves—although he has said he’d beup for moreif the Wachowskis were making it—so this is just Warners taking a popular title and shaking it to see if any money falls out. (Is anyone else starting to suspect that Warners might actually be in trouble?) That’s two-thirds of studio films these days, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, and The Matrix is not likely to work. It was just the right combination of stylish action, complicated enough to hook you but not too hard to follow plotting, visionary directors working with a legit Movie Star, and NO F*CKING COMPETITION AT THE BOX OFFICE.
The Matrixcame out in March 1999. Back then, March was not a busy month. It wasn’t a graveyard like January and February, but it wasn’t a strongly competitive month, either. Other March ’99 releases includeCruel Intentions, 10 Things I Hate About You, Analyze This, Forces of Nature, andEDtv。There were a lot of romances and a lot of movies aimed at teens—two things that practically don’t exist anymore—but the only other action movies that month wereLock, Stock and Two Smoking BarrelsandThe Mod Squadreboot (which tanked). There just wasn’t any competition, which allowedThe Matrixto grab an audience and become a phenomenon.
The problem with rebooting successful-but-old movies is that the world in which they were successful no longer exists.The Matrixchanged how action movies look, but we’re actually moving away from that effects-heavy model as audiences are responding better and more strongly to practical effects. Movies likeThe RaidandJohn Wickhave pushed us back in the direction of real stunts and practical action.
Are there still FX bonanzas? Sure—comic book movies. But what has everyone been praising Marvel for lately? The fist fights. The practical stunts it’s obvious real people are performing. Special effects are no longer special, and audiences like practical stunts again, so where does that leaveThe Matrix? Warners will probably reboot it because those deck chairs aren’t going to rearrange themselves, but does anyone think they can repeat the success of the originalMatrix?
