Warner Bros has announced that they are indeed going to be making a new movie for the Matrix series.
The studio announced that a fifth “Matrix” movie is in development. It’ll be the first installment without Lana or Lily Wachowski as directors.
Instead, “The Martian” screenwriter Drew Goddard will be on the filmmaking duties for this new movie.
Goddard will also write the script and produce with his partner Goddard Textiles, Sarah Esberg. Lana Wachowski, who helmed the most recent “Matrix” installment, 2021’s “Resurrections,” is attached as an executive producer.
Goddard began his career writing on the ’90s hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and later worked on shows like Angel, Alias and Lost. He created Netflix’s Marvel show Daredevil and was an exec producer on the acclaimed dramedy The Good Place.
He also wrote the monster movie Cloverfield as well as horror-genre blending Cabin in the Woods, on which he also made his directorial debut. Goddard earned an Oscar nomination for penning The Martian, the hit space drama directed by Ridley Scott that starred Matt Damon.
“It is not hyperbole to say The Matrix films changed both cinema and my life,” said Goddard in a statement. “Lana and Lilly’s exquisite artistry inspires me on a daily basis, and I am beyond grateful for the chance to tell stories in their world.”
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“Drew came to Warner Bros. with a new idea that we all believe would be an incredible way to continue the Matrix world, by both honoring what Lana and Lilly began over 25 years ago and offering a unique perspective based on his own love of the series and characters,” said Warner Bros. Motion Pictures president of production Jesse Ehrman in a statement. “The entire team at Warner Bros. Discovery is thrilled for Drew to be making his new Matrix film, adding his vision to the cinematic canon the Wachowskis spent a quarter of a century building here at the studio.”
It’s not clear who from the “Matrix” universe — Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss have anchored all of the prior movies as Neo and Trinity, while Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris and Priyanka Chopra Jonas joined in the most recent iteration — will return.
The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions were released back to back in 2003 to mixed reviews and uneven box office.
Reloaded grossed $741 million, reflecting intense interest in the franchise, while Revolutions made $427 million, showing the growing disappointment of what audiences felt was visual effects being prioritized over story.
Matrix loomed large over pop culture history, and Lana Wachowski returned to the franchise in 2021 with The Matrix Resurrections. That one, however, seemed like the end of the line for Neo as the movie grossed only $159 million worldwide
