After the fourth Matrix movie bombed, we're getting a fifth anyway

In 1999, a sci-fi action movie called The Matrix came out and electrified movie-goers. Even if you've never seen the movie, I guarantee you've seen its slow-mo "bullet time" sequences parodied somewhere:

That first movie also blew people's minds as it suggested that our reality was a computer simulation and that our real bodies are being used to power a robot dystopia. To this day, people use "take the red pill" as a metaphor for discovering the truth. This franchise left its mark on the culture, pop and otherwise.

The box office returns were also solid. The first movie made $465 million, which is a lot today and even more back then. The sequel, The Matrix Reloaded, made $738 million when it came out in 2003, and then the final movie in the trilogy, The Matrix Revolutions, made $427 million when it came out later that year. By that point, people had grown tired of the series' ponderous philosophizing.

A fourth movie, The Matrix Resurrections, came out in 2021 to a paltry $159 million, less than the movie's $190 million budget. Lana Wachowski, who wrote and directed the original three movies with her sister Lilly, returned to co-write and direct the new one, but it was understood that she only did so because if she didn't, Warner Bros. Discovery would make another movie without her. The movie even commented on its own pointlessness in a wink-wink-nudge-nudge moment for audiences:

And now The Hollywood Reporter has it that a fifth Matrix movie is on the way, this one written and directed by Drew Goddard. “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 executive Jesse Ehrman. “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.”

To be fair, Goddard has real genre bona fides. He got his start writing some great episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer before working on shows like Lost and The Good Place. He also created the Netflix show Daredevil, wrote the monster movie Cloverfield, and co-wrote and directed the meta horror movie The Cabin in the Woods. “It is not hyperbole to say The Matrix films changed both cinema and my life,” Goddard said 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.”

So he's talented, but is he talented enough to overcome the block posed by a movie that probably doesn't need to be made? Again, The Matrix Resurrections straight-up bombed at the box office, but Warner Bros. Discovery apparently thinks there's more franchise gold to be mined in them there digital hills.

Maybe new ideas from Goddard are what the franchise needs to feel interesting again. Or maybe this will be yet another bomb. That's kind of what it feels like right now. Warner Bros. Discovery, despite getting a lot of bad press for doing evil stuff like canceling the finishing movie Coyote vs. Acme, has had a good number of hits in the past year, including Barbie, Dune: Part Two and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Do they know something we don't about the public's appetite for another Matrix movie, or is this as wrong-headed a move as it seems?

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