View source for The Matrix

{{Short description|1999 film by the Wachowskis}}
{{About|the 1999 film|the franchise it initiated|The Matrix (franchise){{!}}''The Matrix'' (franchise)|other uses|Matrix (disambiguation){{!}}Matrix}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| image = The_Matrix.png
| alt = The characters of the film (Cypher, Morpheus, Thomas Anderson/Neo, and Trinity) in an alleyway holding guns and weapons, with bullets on the ground. Lines of computer code (known as digital rain) can be seen scattered around the poster. The tagline on the bottom reads "ON MARCH 31ST THE FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE BEGINS."
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = [[The Wachowskis]]<!--Do not change without consensus. See [[Talk:The Matrix (franchise)/Archive 2#Request for Comment – Crediting The Wachowskis]]. -->{{efn|name=Credited|Credited as ''The Wachowski Brothers''}}
| producer = [[Joel Silver]]
| writer = The Wachowskis
| starring = {{Plainlist|
* [[Keanu Reeves]]
* [[Laurence Fishburne]]
* [[Carrie-Anne Moss]]
* [[Hugo Weaving]]
* [[Joe Pantoliano]]
}}
| music = [[Don Davis (composer)|Don Davis]]
| cinematography = [[Bill Pope]]
| editing = [[Zach Staenberg]]
| studio = {{Plainlist|
* [[Village Roadshow Pictures]]
* Groucho II Film Partnership
* [[Silver Pictures]]
}}
| distributor = {{Plainlist|
* [[Warner Bros. Pictures|Warner Bros.]] (worldwide)
* [[Roadshow Entertainment]] (Australia)
}}
| released = {{Film date|1999|03|24|[[Mann Village Theater]]|1999|03|31|United States|1999|04|08|Australia}}
| runtime = 136 minutes<!--Theatrical runtime: 136:00 + 0:10 (136:10)--><ref>{{cite web |title=The Matrix |url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/matrix-1970-3 |access-date=May 12, 2013 |website=[[British Board of Film Classification]] |archive-date=August 15, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130815002730/http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/matrix-1970-3 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| country = {{ubl|United States<ref name="Lumiere">{{cite web |title=Film: The Matrix |url=http://lumiere.obs.coe.int/web/film_info/?id=12005 |access-date=March 21, 2017 |website=[[Lumiere (database)|Lumiere]] |archive-date=June 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624104815/http://lumiere.obs.coe.int/web/film_info/?id=12005 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="AFI">{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/61230|title=The Matrix|publisher=[[American Film Institute]]|access-date=June 22, 2021|archive-date=June 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612074726/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/61230|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="BFI">{{cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b81295544|title=The Matrix|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|access-date=June 22, 2021|archive-date=June 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624203352/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b81295544|url-status=dead}}</ref>|
Australia<ref name="Lumiere"/><ref name="AFI"/><ref name="BFI"/>}}
| language = English
| budget = $63 million<ref name="Mojo">{{cite web |title=''The Matrix'' (1999) |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0133093/ |access-date=December 19, 2021 |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |publisher=[[Amazon (company)|Amazon]] |archive-date=May 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200527135737/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0133093/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
| gross = $467.8 million<ref name="Mojo"/>
}}

'''''The Matrix''''' is a 1999 [[science fiction film|science fiction]] [[action film]]<!--as per AFI, Box office mojo, AllMovie and all leading sources--> written and directed by [[the Wachowskis]].<!--Do not change without consensus. See [[Talk:The Matrix (franchise)#Request for Comment – Crediting The Wachowskis]]. -->{{efn|name=Credited|}} It is the first installment in the [[The Matrix (franchise)|''Matrix'' film series]], starring [[Keanu Reeves]], [[Laurence Fishburne]], [[Carrie-Anne Moss]], [[Hugo Weaving]], and [[Joe Pantoliano]]. It depicts a [[dystopia]]n future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside the Matrix, a [[simulated reality]] created by [[artificial intelligence|intelligent machines]]. Believing computer hacker [[Neo (The Matrix)|Neo]] to be "the One" prophesied to defeat them, [[Morpheus (The Matrix)|Morpheus]] recruits him into a rebellion against the machines.

Following the success of [[Bound (1996 film)|''Bound'']] (1996), [[Warner Bros.]] gave the go-ahead for ''The Matrix'' after the Wachowskis sent an edit of the film's opening minutes. Action scenes were influenced by [[anime]] and [[martial arts film]]s, particularly [[fight choreography]] and [[wire fu]] techniques from [[Hong Kong action cinema]]. Other influences include [[Allegory of the cave|Plato's cave]], 1990's [[Telnet]] hacker communities, and [[William Gibson]]'s [[cyberpunk]] novel [[Neuromancer]]. The film popularized terms such as the [[red pill]] as well as a novel visual effect known as "[[bullet time]]" in which a character's heightened perception is represented by allowing the action within a [[Shot (filmmaking)|shot]] to progress in [[slow motion]] while the camera appears to move through the scene at normal speed.

''The Matrix'' opened in theaters in the United States on March 31, 1999, to widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its innovative visual effects, action sequences, cinematography and entertainment value.<ref name="RottenTomatoes">{{cite web |title=''The Matrix'' (1999) |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/matrix/ |access-date=July 5, 2019 |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media|Fandango]] |archive-date=June 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627023909/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/matrix/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="meta">{{cite web |title=''The Matrix'' (1999): Reviews |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-matrix |access-date=July 11, 2008 |website=[[Metacritic]] |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |archive-date=April 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200414184459/https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-matrix |url-status=live }}</ref> The film was a box office success, grossing over $460 million on a $63 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing Warner Bros. film of 1999 and the [[1999 in film|fourth-highest-grossing film of that year]]. The film received nominations at the [[72nd Academy Awards]] for [[Academy Award for Best Visual Effects|Best Visual Effects]], [[Academy Award for Best Film Editing|Best Film Editing]], [[Academy Award for Best Sound|Best Sound]] and Best Sound Effects Editing, winning all four categories. The film was also the recipient of numerous other accolades, including [[BAFTA Award for Best Sound|Best Sound]] and [[BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects|Best Special Visual Effects]] at the [[53rd British Academy Film Awards]], and the Wachowskis were awarded [[Saturn Award for Best Director|Best Director]] and [[Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film|Best Science Fiction Film]] at the [[26th Saturn Awards]].

''The Matrix'' is considered to be among the greatest science fiction films of all time,<ref name="heritage1">{{Cite news |last=Heritage |first=Stuart |date=October 21, 2010 |title=The Matrix: No 13 best sci-fi and fantasy film of all time |work=Guardian.co.uk |publisher=[[Guardian Media Group]] |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/21/matrix-wachowskis-science-fiction |access-date=December 13, 2016 |archive-date=October 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009062236/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/21/matrix-wachowskis-science-fiction |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web |title=Top 25 Sci-Fi Movies of All Time |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/11/15/top-25-sci-fi-movies-of-all-time |access-date=January 29, 2012 |website=IGN |archive-date=April 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200414142253/https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/11/15/top-25-sci-fi-movies-of-all-time |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Genre's Best"/><!--<ref name="Entertainment Weekly"/>--> and in 2012, the film was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant".<ref name="NFR"/> The film's success led to two sequels by the Wachowskis, both released in 2003, ''[[The Matrix Reloaded]]'' and ''[[The Matrix Revolutions]]''. The ''Matrix'' franchise was further expanded through the production of comic books, video games and an animated [[anthology film]], ''[[The Animatrix]]'', with which the Wachowskis were heavily involved. The franchise has also inspired books and theories expanding on some of the religious and philosophical ideas alluded to in the films. A fourth film, titled ''[[The Matrix Resurrections]]'' and directed solely by [[Lana Wachowski]], was released in 2021.

== Plot ==
In 1999, in an unnamed city, Thomas Anderson, a computer programmer known as "[[Neo (The Matrix)|Neo]]" in hacking circles, delves into the mystery of the "Matrix", bringing him to the attention of hacker [[Trinity (The Matrix)|Trinity]]. She tells him that the enigmatic [[Morpheus (The Matrix)|Morpheus]] can answer Neo's questions. At his workplace, Neo is pursued by [[Agent (The Matrix)|Agents]] led by [[Agent Smith]], while Morpheus, able to somehow observe their movements, guides him by phone, but Neo ultimately surrenders.

The Agents interrogate Neo about Morpheus, but he refuses to cooperate. In response, they seal his mouth shut and implant a robotic tracking device in his abdomen. Neo awakens at home, believing the encounter to have been a nightmare until Trinity and her allies remove the device and take him to Morpheus. Morpheus offers Neo a choice: a red pill to uncover the truth about the Matrix or a blue pill to return to his normal life. Taking the red pill, Neo awakens in the real world, submerged in a mechanical pod and connected to invasive cables. He sees countless humans similarly encased and tended by machines before being ejected from the structure and rescued by Morpheus aboard the hovercraft ''[[Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix)|Nebuchadnezzar]]''.

Morpheus reveals that the year is approximately 2199. In the 21st century, humanity lost a war against its artificially intelligent creations, leaving Earth a devastated ruin. Humans blackened the sky to deprive the machines of solar power, but the machines retaliated by creating vast fields of artificially grown humans, harvesting their bioelectric energy. To keep their captives pacified, they built the Matrix, a simulated reality modeled on human civilization at its peak. The remaining free humans founded an underground refuge called Zion, surviving on scarce resources. Morpheus and his crew hack into the Matrix to liberate others, exploiting its rules to gain superhuman abilities within it. Even so, they remain outmatched by the Agents—sentient programs that protect the system—and death in the Matrix means death in the real world. Morpheus freed Neo because he believes him to be "the One", a prophesied figure destined to free humanity.

The crew enter the Matrix to seek guidance from [[The Oracle (The Matrix)|the Oracle]], who foretold the coming of the One. She implies that Neo is not the One and warns him of an imminent choice between his life and Morpheus's. The crew are ambushed by Agents after being betrayed by Cypher, a disillusioned crew member who longs to return to the virtual comforts of the Matrix. Convinced of Neo's importance, Morpheus sacrifices himself to confront Smith and is captured. Meanwhile, Cypher exits the Matrix and begins disconnecting the others, killing them. Before he can kill Neo and Trinity, Tank, a wounded crew member, regains consciousness, kills Cypher, and safely extracts the survivors.

Smith interrogates Morpheus to obtain access codes for Zion's mainframe, which would enable the machines to destroy the human resistance. Determined to rescue him, Neo reenters the Matrix with Trinity. They free Morpheus, who escapes the Matrix with Trinity, but Smith intercepts Neo. Realizing his potential, Neo fights Smith as an equal and kills him. However, Smith resurrects in a new body and kills Neo.

In the real world, machines called Sentinels attack the ''Nebuchadnezzar''. Standing by Neo's body, Trinity confesses her love for him and reveals that the Oracle prophesied she would fall in love with the One. In the Matrix, Neo revives with the ability to perceive and manipulate its code. He effortlessly destroys Smith and escapes the Matrix just as the ''Nebuchadnezzar''{{'}}s electromagnetic pulse disables the Sentinels. Later, within the Matrix, Neo communicates with the system, vowing to show humanity a world of limitless possibilities, before flying away.

== Cast ==
{{See also|List of Matrix series characters}}
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*[[Keanu Reeves]] as [[Neo (The Matrix)|Neo]]: A computer programmer, born Thomas Anderson, who secretly operates as a hacker named Neo. Reeves described his character as someone who felt that something was wrong, and was searching for Morpheus and the truth to break free.<ref name="Screenplay">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=Screenplay |medium=DVD}}</ref> [[Will Smith]] turned down the role of Neo to make ''[[Wild Wild West]]'', because of skepticism over the film's ambitious bullet time special effects.<ref name="empire will smith">{{Cite magazine |last=Lawrence |first=Will |date=February 2007 |title=The Empire Interview: In conversation with Will Smith |magazine=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]] |publisher=[[Emap]] |issue=212 |page=109 |quote=Honestly, I didn't think they could do it, it was too ambitious. I saw ''Bound'' and I loved it. ''The Matrix'' is exactly what they pitched, but they were designing those cameras to get those freeze-frames, and I was like, "If that doesn't work, the movie looks ridiculous." I didn't feel comfortable with the level of importance placed on that effect working properly.&nbsp;... That's probably the only one that I turned down that I shouldn't have, but when you see somebody do it like Keanu you think, "Thank God." I don't think I was mature enough as an actor at that point to get out of the way and just let it be and allow the directors to make the movie. I would have been trying to make jokes. Now I would have loved to take a shot and see what I would have done with it and I know now I could absolutely have been mature enough to get out the way. But back then I don't think I was.}}</ref> He later stated he was "not mature enough as an actor" at that time,<ref name="empire will smith"/> and that if given the role, he "would have messed it up".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Hillner |first=Jennifer |date=July 2004 |title=I, Robocop |url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.07/smith_pr.html |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |access-date=March 11, 2017 |archive-date=March 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130320180752/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.07/smith_pr.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Riggs |first=Ransom |date=October 20, 2008 |title=5 million-dollar mistakes by movie stars |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/10/20/mf.rejected.movies/index.html?iref=mpstoryview |access-date=January 4, 2013 |publisher=CNN |archive-date=December 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223155323/http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/10/20/mf.rejected.movies/index.html?iref=mpstoryview |url-status=live }}</ref> Smith praised Reeves for his portrayal.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/will-smith-reveals-he-turned-down-the-matrix-and-h/1100-6465037/ |title=Will Smith Reveals He Turned Down the Matrix, and Here's Why |work=Gamespot |last=Makuch |first=Eddie |date=February 14, 2019 |access-date=April 11, 2022 |archive-date=April 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411033642/https://www.gamespot.com/articles/will-smith-reveals-he-turned-down-the-matrix-and-h/1100-6465037/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Nicolas Cage]] also turned down the part because of "family obligations".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Carroll |first=Larry |date=December 7, 2007 |title=Will Smith Snagged 'I Am Legend' From Schwarzenegger, But Can You Imagine Nicolas Cage In 'The Matrix'? |publisher=MTV |url=http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1576048/20071207/story.jhtml |access-date=December 8, 2007 |archive-date=December 11, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211004920/http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1576048/20071207/story.jhtml |url-status=dead }}</ref> Warner Bros. sought [[Brad Pitt]] or [[Val Kilmer]] for the role.<ref name="Davis-interview"/> When both declined, [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] initially accepted the role, but ultimately turned it down because he did not want to do a visual effects film directly after ''[[Titanic (1997 film)|Titanic]]''.<ref name="Cast-Bullock-DiCaprio"/> The studio pushed for Reeves, who won the role over [[Johnny Depp]], the Wachowskis' first choice.<ref name="Davis-interview">{{cite web |last=Redpill |date=July 2000 |title=Don Davis – Composer |url=http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/cmp/rl_interview_don_davis.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821134729/http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/cmp/rl_interview_don_davis.html |archive-date=August 21, 2008 |access-date=September 9, 2021 |website=whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com |quote=As far as casting goes, Keanu Reeves wasn't Larry and Andy's first choice, Johnny Depp was their first choice for Neo. Warner Bros. was going for this thing where they didn't want Johnny Depp, they wanted Brad Pitt or Val Kilmer. They told Larry and Andy if Brad Pitt would do the picture, they'd green light it right then. After Kilmer and Brad Pitt said no, Warner Bros. was willing to consider Johnny Depp, so it sort of came down to between Johnny Depp and Keanu Reeves, who Warner Bros. was pushing. Keanu was always really tuned in to the concept and that made a big difference for Larry and Andy. I think it was a brilliant choice. Gary Oldman was considered as Morpheus at one point, and Samuel Jackson as well. For Trinity, I think they were generally looking at lesser known names for that character. }}</ref> [[Lorenzo di Bonaventura]] stated that the screenplay was also sent to [[Sandra Bullock]], with the suggestion of rewriting Neo as a female.<ref name="Cast-Bullock-DiCaprio">{{cite web|url=https://www.thewrap.com/the-matrix-filmmakers-wanted-sandra-bullock-as-neo-before-keanu-reeves-took-the-role/|title='The Matrix' Wanted Sandra Bullock as Neo Before Keanu Reeves Took the Role|last=Williams|first=Trey|date=March 26, 2019|accessdate=September 9, 2021|website=[[TheWrap]]|quote="We went to Sandy Bullock and said 'We'll change Neo to a girl.' [Producer] Joel Silver and I worked with Sandy on 'Demolition Man' and she was and continues to be a very good friend of mine. It was pretty simple. We sent her the script to see if she was interested in it. And if she was interested in it we would try to make the change."..."The first movie star who says yes is Brad Pitt, he’s doing 'Seven Years in Tibet' and then he’s coming out of it and he’s like 'I'm way too exhausted to take this on,' so he's gone," di Bonaventura said. "Then we go to Leonardo [DiCaprio]. He says yes, we have meetings with him and then he goes, 'You know, I can't go do another visual effects movie having just finished 'Titanic,' and he drops out. Then Will Smith joins it and he drops out."|archive-date=August 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819005711/https://www.thewrap.com/the-matrix-filmmakers-wanted-sandra-bullock-as-neo-before-keanu-reeves-took-the-role/|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[Laurence Fishburne]] as [[Morpheus (The Matrix)|Morpheus]]: A human freed from the Matrix and captain of the ''Nebuchadnezzar''. Fishburne stated that once he read the script, he did not understand why other people found it confusing. However, he doubted if the movie would ever be made, because it was "so smart".<ref name="Screenplay"/> The Wachowskis instructed Fishburne to base his performance on the character [[Dream (character)|Morpheus]] in [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[The Sandman (comic book)|Sandman]]'' comics.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gaiman |first=Neil |author-link=Neil Gaiman |date=June 10, 2003 |title=Neil Gaiman's Journal: You must be this tall to ride this website... |url=http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2003/06/you-must-be-this-tall-to-ride-this.asp |access-date=December 30, 2012 |website=neilgaiman.com |archive-date=December 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213152958/http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2003/06/you-must-be-this-tall-to-ride-this.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> 
*[[Carrie-Anne Moss]] as [[Trinity (The Matrix)|Trinity]]: A human freed by Morpheus, a crewmember of the ''Nebuchadnezzar'', and later Neo's romantic interest. After reading the script, Moss stated that at first, she did not believe she had to do the extreme acrobatic actions as described in the script. She also doubted how the Wachowskis would get to direct a movie with a budget so large, but after spending an hour with them going through the storyboard, she understood why some people would trust them.<ref name="Screenplay"/> Moss mentioned that she underwent a three-hour physical test during casting, so she knew what to expect subsequently.<ref name="Training">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=Training |medium=DVD}}</ref> The role made Moss, who later said, "I had no career before. None."<ref name="Influence EW2"/> [[Janet Jackson]] was initially approached for the role but scheduling conflicts prevented her from accepting it.<ref name="janet">Wonderland Magazine, February 2010, page 148</ref><ref name="janet2">{{cite web |date=February 2, 2010 |title=Janet Jackson: 'I was in Matrix talks' |website=[[Digital Spy]] |url=http://www.digitalspy.com/celebrity/news/a200856/janet-jackson-i-was-in-matrix-talks.html |access-date=September 20, 2013 |archive-date=September 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923230443/http://www.digitalspy.com/celebrity/news/a200856/janet-jackson-i-was-in-matrix-talks.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In an interview, she stated that turning down the role was difficult for her, so she later referenced ''The Matrix'' in the 'Intro' and 'Outro' interludes on her tenth studio album ''[[Discipline (Janet Jackson album)|Discipline]]''.<ref name="janet1">{{cite web |date=February 28, 2008 |title=The Janet Jackson Interview – The Daily Voice |url=http://thedailyvoice.com/voice/2008/02/the-janet-jackson-interview-000258.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516041454/http://thedailyvoice.com/voice/2008/02/the-janet-jackson-interview-000258.php |archive-date=May 16, 2008 |access-date=September 20, 2013}}</ref> [[Sandra Bullock]], who was previously approached for the role of Neo, was also offered the role of Trinity, but she turned it down.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.today.com/popculture/america-asks-sandra-bullock-answers-wbna29125424|title=America asks, Sandra Bullock answers|date=February 10, 2009 |access-date=January 14, 2022|archive-date=January 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114165020/https://www.today.com/popculture/america-asks-sandra-bullock-answers-wbna29125424|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Rosie Perez]], [[Salma Hayek]] and [[Jada Pinkett Smith]] (who would later play [[Niobe (The Matrix)|Niobe]] in the sequels) auditioned for the role.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Nolfi |first1=Joey |last2=Lenker |first2=Maureen Lee |title=Salma Hayek recalls bombing her athletic audition for 'The Matrix': 'I'm lazy!' |url=https://ew.com/movies/salma-hayek-recalls-bombing-matrix-audition/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=October 17, 2021 |date=June 22, 2021 |archive-date=October 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028081132/https://ew.com/movies/salma-hayek-recalls-bombing-matrix-audition/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/story/the-matrix-legacy-book-excerpt/ |title=How The Matrix Built a Bullet-Proof Legacy |magazine=Wired |date=March 29, 2019 |access-date=December 6, 2022 |archive-date=March 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312024920/https://www.wired.com/story/the-matrix-legacy-book-excerpt/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/rosie-perez-spike-lee-matrix-audition-1235566016/ | title=Rosie Perez on Making Peace with Spike Lee, Bombing Her 'Matrix' Audition and Why Hollywood's Latino Representation Still 'Sucks' | date=March 29, 2023 | access-date=March 31, 2023 | archive-date=March 31, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331125542/https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/rosie-perez-spike-lee-matrix-audition-1235566016/ | url-status=live }}</ref>
*[[Gloria Foster]] as [[The Oracle (The Matrix)|The Oracle]]: A prophet who still resides in the Matrix, helping the freed humans with her foresight and wisdom.
*[[Joe Pantoliano]] as Cypher: Another human freed by Morpheus, and a crewmember of the ''Nebuchadnezzar'', but one who regrets taking the red pill and seeks to be returned to the Matrix, later betraying the rebels to Agent Smith. Pantoliano had worked with the Wachowskis prior to appearing in ''The Matrix'', starring in their 1996 film ''[[Bound (1996 film)|Bound]]''.
*[[Marcus Chong]] as Tank: The "operator" of the ''Nebuchadnezzar'' and Dozer's brother; they are both "natural" (as opposed to bred) humans, born outside of the Matrix.
*[[Paul Goddard (actor)|Paul Goddard]] as Agent Brown: One of two sentient "Agent" programs in the Matrix, who works with Agent Smith to destroy Zion and stop humans from escaping the system.
*[[Robert Taylor (Australian actor)|Robert Taylor]] as Agent Jones: One of two sentient "Agent" programs in the Matrix who works with Agent Smith to destroy Zion and stop humans from escaping the system.

*[[Julian Arahanga]] as Apoc: A freed human and a crew member on the ''Nebuchadnezzar''.
*[[Matt Doran]] as Mouse: A freed human and a programmer on the ''Nebuchadnezzar''.
*[[Belinda McClory]] as Switch: A human freed by Morpheus, and a crew member of the ''Nebuchadnezzar''.
*[[Anthony Ray Parker]] as Dozer: Pilot of the ''Nebuchadnezzar''. He is Tank's brother, and like him was born outside of the Matrix.
*[[Rowan Witt]] as The Spoon Boy, a young prophet who has learnt how to manipulate the world of the Matrix. Seemingly wise beyond his years, he teaches Neo how to develop his powers and provides him with wisdom and motivation across the films and graphic novels.
*[[Ada Nicodemou]] as DuJour: A reference to the [[White Rabbit]] in ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]''.
*[[Hugo Weaving]] as [[Agent Smith]]: A sentient "Agent" program of the Matrix whose purpose is to destroy Zion and stop humans from getting out of the Matrix. Unlike other Agents, he has ambitions to free himself from his duties. Weaving stated that he found the character amusing and enjoyable to play. He developed a neutral accent but with more specific character for the role. He wanted Smith to sound neither robotic nor human, and also said that the Wachowskis' voices had influenced his voice in the film. When filming began, Weaving mentioned that he was excited to be a part of something that would extend him.<ref name="Interrogation Room">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=Interrogation Room |medium=DVD}}</ref> [[Jean Reno]] was offered the role, but declined, unwilling to move to Australia for the production.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=WENN |date=May 12, 2006 |title=Reno Said No To ''The Matrix'' |url=http://www.contactmusic.com/news-article/reno-said-no-to-the-matrix_12_05_2006 |magazine=[[Contactmusic.com]] |access-date=August 15, 2013 |archive-date=December 14, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214051123/http://www.contactmusic.com/news-article/reno-said-no-to-the-matrix_12_05_2006 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Production ==

=== Development ===
In 1994, the Wachowskis presented the script for the film ''[[Assassins (1995 film)|Assassins]]'' to [[Warner Bros. Pictures]]. After [[Lorenzo di Bonaventura]], the president of production of the company at the time, read the script, he decided to buy rights to it and included two more pictures, ''[[Bound (1996 film)|Bound]]'' and ''The Matrix'', in the contract. The first movie the Wachowskis directed, ''Bound'', then became a critical success. Using this momentum, they later asked to direct ''The Matrix''.<ref name="Influence Screened"/> Reeves said that the Matrix avatar would have been a "different sex than the Zion reality" in the early draft of the script, but the studio was not ready for that version.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://ew.com/movies/the-matrix-theories-lana-wachowski-keanu-reeves-carrie-anne-moss |title=What even is 'The Matrix'? Lana Wachowski and her stars address decades of theories |last=Romano |first=Nick |website=EW.com}}</ref>

In 1996, the Wachowskis pitched the role of Neo to [[Will Smith]]. Smith explained on his [[YouTube]] channel that the idea was for him to be Neo, while Morpheus was to be played by [[Val Kilmer]]. He later explained that he did not quite understand the concept and he turned down the role to instead film ''[[Wild Wild West]]''.<ref>{{Citation|title=Why I Turned Down The Matrix {{!}} STORYTIME| date=February 13, 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm2szuXKgL8 |access-date=September 29, 2021|archive-date=September 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929083519/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm2szuXKgL8|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Madonna]] also turned down an undisclosed role, a decision she would later regret.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ew.com/movies/madonna-regrets-turning-down-matrix-role-jimmy-fallon-video/|title=Madonna regrets turning down a role in 'The Matrix'|website=EW.com}}</ref>

Producer [[Joel Silver]] soon joined the project. Although the project had key supporters, including Silver and Di Bonaventura, to influence the company, ''The Matrix'' was still a huge investment for Warner Bros., which had to invest $60 million to create a movie with prominent actors and difficult special effects.<ref name="Influence Screened"/> The Wachowskis therefore hired underground comic book artists [[Geof Darrow]] and [[Steve Skroce]] to draw a 600-page, shot-by-shot storyboard for the entire film.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Miller |first=Mark |date=November 2003 |title=Matrix Revelations; The Wachowski Brothers FAQ |url=https://www.wired.com/2003/11/matrix/ |url-status=live |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120101020/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.11/matrix.html |archive-date=November 20, 2012 |access-date=December 4, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/the-wachowskis-jupiter-ascending-the-matrix-cloud-atlas |title=The Wachowskis Refuse To Take No For An Answer |work=BuzzFeed |last=Vary |first=Adam B. |date=February 5, 2015 |access-date=December 6, 2022 |archive-date=September 10, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160910054233/https://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/the-wachowskis-jupiter-ascending-the-matrix-cloud-atlas |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Weinraub |first=Bernard |date=April 5, 1999 |title=Brothers Unleash the Comic Book of Ideas |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/05/movies/brothers-unleash-the-comic-book-of-ideas.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=September 15, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The storyboard eventually earned the studio's approval, and it was decided to film in Australia to make the most of the budget.<ref name="Influence Screened"/> Soon, ''The Matrix'' became a co-production of Warner Bros. and [[Village Roadshow Pictures]].<ref name="Museum">{{cite web |last=Powerhouse Museum |title='The Matrix' film poster |url=http://from.ph/422513 |access-date=December 24, 2012 |publisher=Powerhouse Museum, Australia |archive-date=February 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130205081603/http://from.ph/422513 |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to editor [[Zach Staenberg]] on the DVD audio commentary track, the production team sent an edit of the film's first minutes (featuring Trinity's encounter with police and Agents) to Warner Bros. executives, and secured Warner Bros.' "total support of the movie" from then on.<ref>''The Matrix'' DVD Audio Commentary featuring actress Carrie Ann Moss, film editor Zach Staenberg, and visual effects supervisor John Gaeta. At time 3:30–5:11</ref>

=== Pre-production ===
The cast were required to be able to understand and explain ''The Matrix''.<ref name="Influence Screened"/> French philosopher [[Jean Baudrillard]]'s ''[[Simulacra and Simulation]]'' was required reading for most of the principal cast and crew.<ref name="Simulacra">{{Cite news |last=Rothstein, Edward |date=May 24, 2003 |title=Philosophers Draw on a Film Drawing on Philosophers |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/24/movies/philosophers-draw-on-a-film-drawing-on-philosophers.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=December 5, 2012 |archive-date=April 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407104440/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/24/movies/philosophers-draw-on-a-film-drawing-on-philosophers.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In early 1997, the Wachowskis had Reeves and Moss read ''Simulacra and Simulation'', [[Kevin Kelly (editor)|Kevin Kelly]]'s ''[[Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World]]'', and [[Dylan Evans]]'s ideas on [[evolutionary psychology]] even before they opened up the script.<ref name="Screenplay"/> Eventually, Reeves was able to explain all the philosophical nuances involved.<ref name="Influence Screened"/> Moss commented that she had difficulty with this process.<ref name="Screenplay"/>

The directors had long been admirers of [[Hong Kong action cinema]], so they decided to hire the Chinese [[fight choreography|martial arts choreographer]] and film director [[Yuen Woo-ping]] to work on fight scenes. To prepare for the [[wire fu]], the actors had to train hard for several months.<ref name="Influence Screened"/> The Wachowskis first scheduled four months for training, beginning in October 1997.<ref>{{Cite news|title=The Mind-Bending Story of How 'The Matrix' Came to Be|language=en-us|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/story/the-matrix-legacy-book-excerpt/|access-date=March 15, 2021|issn=1059-1028|archive-date=March 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302053828/https://www.wired.com/story/the-matrix-legacy-book-excerpt/|url-status=live}}</ref> Yuen was optimistic but then began to worry when he realized how unfit the actors were.<ref name="Training"/>

Yuen let their body style develop and then worked with each actor's strength. He built on Reeves's diligence, Fishburne's resilience, Weaving's precision and Moss's grace.<ref name="Training"/> Yuen designed Moss's moves to suit her deftness and lightness.<ref name="Trinity">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=Trinity |medium=DVD}}</ref> Prior to the pre-production, Reeves underwent a two-level fusion of his cervical (neck) spine due to spinal cord compression from a herniated disc ("I was falling over in the shower in the morning").<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Heath |first=Chris |date=August 31, 2000 |title=The Quiet Man: The Riddle of Keanu Reeves |magazine=Rolling Stone}}</ref> He was still recovering by the time of pre-production, but he insisted on training, so Yuen let him practice punches and lighter moves. Reeves trained hard and even requested training on days off. However, the surgery still made him unable to kick for two out of four months of training. As a result, Reeves did not kick much in the film.<ref name="Training"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sploid.gizmodo.com/keanu-reeves-couldnt-kick-in-the-matrix-and-six-other-1681941448|title=Keanu Reeves couldn't kick in The Matrix--and six other factoids|work=Sploid |date=February 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170212175210/https://sploid.gizmodo.com/keanu-reeves-couldnt-kick-in-the-matrix-and-six-other-1681941448 |archive-date=February 12, 2017 |last1=Chan |first1=Casey }}</ref> Weaving had to undergo [[Hip replacement|hip surgery]] after he sustained an injury during the training process.<ref name="Influence Screened"/>

=== Filming ===
[[File:Campbell Street train bridge at intersection of Elizabeth Street.jpg|thumb|Campbell Street train bridge at the intersection of Elizabeth Street was one of the filming locations in the city of Sydney.]]

All but a few scenes were filmed at [[Fox Studios Australia|Fox Studios]] in Sydney, as well as in the city itself, although recognizable landmarks were not included to maintain the impression of a generic American city. The filming helped establish [[New South Wales]] as a major film production center.<ref>{{Cite AV media |title=HBO First Look: Making the Matrix |publisher=HBO |place=United States |medium=Cable TV documentary}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vulture.com/2021/12/the-matrix-timeline.html |title=How The Matrix Got Made |work=Vulture |last=Phipps |first=Keith |date=December 22, 2001 |access-date=February 2, 2023 |archive-date=January 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124052554/https://www.vulture.com/2021/12/the-matrix-timeline.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Filming began in March 1998 and wrapped in August 1998; [[principal photography]] took 118 days.<ref name="The Power Plant"/> Some filming also occurred at [[Culver Studios]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Mears|first=Hadley|date=November 21, 2019|url=https://la.curbed.com/2019/11/21/20965989/culver-studios-history-amazon-studios|title=Culver Studios before Amazon|publisher=’’LA Curbed’’|accessdate=February 1, 2024}}</ref>

Due to Reeves's neck injury (see above), some of the action scenes had to be rescheduled to wait for his full recovery. As a result, the filming began with scenes that did not require much physical exertion,<ref name="The Shooting Begins"/><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/movies/1999/04/09/how-matrix-made-it-big-screen/ |title=How The Matrix made it to the big screen |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |first=Rebecca |last=Ascher-Walsh |date=April 9, 1999 |access-date=February 2, 2023 |archive-date=January 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125132223/https://ew.com/movies/1999/04/09/how-matrix-made-it-big-screen/ |url-status=live }}</ref> such as the scene in Thomas Anderson's office, the interrogation room,<ref name="Interrogation Room"/> or the car ride in which Neo is taken to see the Oracle.<ref name="Car Ride to the Oracle">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=Car Ride to the Oracle |medium=DVD}}</ref> Locations for these scenes included [[Martin Place, Sydney|Martin Place's]] fountain in Sydney, halfway between it and the adjacent Colonial Building, and the Colonial Building itself.<ref name="CNN location">{{cite web |last=Delaney, Colin |date=April 26, 2011 |title=5 Sydney film sites you didn't know you knew |url=http://travel.cnn.com/sydney/visit/five-famous-film-sites-sydney-053166 |access-date=December 24, 2012 |publisher=CNN |archive-date=December 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213040238/http://travel.cnn.com/sydney/visit/five-famous-film-sites-sydney-053166 |url-status=live }}</ref> During the scene set on a government building rooftop, the team filmed extra footage of Neo dodging bullets in case the [[bullet time]] process did not work. The bullet-time fight scene was filmed on the roof of [[NortonLifeLock|Symantec]] Corporation building in Kent Street, opposite [[Sussex Street, Sydney|Sussex Street]].<ref name="Government Roof">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=Government Roof |medium=DVD}}</ref>

Moss performed the shots featuring Trinity at the beginning of the film and all the wire stunts herself.<ref name="Trinity"/> The rooftop set that Trinity uses to escape from Agent Brown early in the film was left over from the production of ''[[Dark City (1998 film)|Dark City]]'', which has prompted comments due to the thematic similarities of the films.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=November 6, 2005 |title=Great Movies: Dark City |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |publisher=[[Sun-Times Media Group]] |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20051106%2FREVIEWS08%2F511060302%2F1023 |access-date=December 18, 2006 |archive-date=February 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130205090823/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20051106%2FREVIEWS08%2F511060302%2F1023 |url-status=dead }}</ref> During the rehearsal of the lobby scene, in which Trinity runs on a wall, Moss injured her leg and was ultimately unable to film the shot in one take. She stated that she was under a lot of pressure at the time and was devastated when she realized that she would be unable to do it.<ref name="Government Lobby">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=Government Lobby |medium=DVD}}</ref>

The [[Dōjō|dojo]] set was built well before the actual filming. During the filming of these action sequences, there was significant physical contact between the actors, earning them bruises. Reeves's injury and his insufficient training with wires prior to filming meant he was unable to perform the triple kicks satisfactorily and became frustrated with himself, causing the scene to be postponed. The scene was shot successfully a few days later, with Reeves using only three takes. Yuen altered the choreography and made the actors pull their punches in the last sequence of the scene, creating a training feel.<ref name="Construct Kung Fu">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=Construct Kung Fu |medium=DVD}}</ref>

The filmmakers originally planned to shoot the subway scene in an actual [[Metro station|subway station]], but the complexity of the fight and related wire work required shooting the scene on a set. The set was built around an existing train storage facility, which had real train tracks. Filming the scene when Neo slammed Smith into the ceiling, [[Chad Stahelski]], Reeves's stunt double, sustained several injuries, including [[Rib fracture|broken ribs]], knees and a [[dislocated shoulder]]. Another stuntman was injured by a hydraulic puller during a shot in which Neo was slammed into a booth.<ref name="El Fighting">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=El Fighting |medium=DVD}}</ref> The office building in which Smith interrogated Morpheus was a large set, and the outside view from inside the building was a large, three story high [[cyclorama]]. The helicopter was a full-scale, light-weight mock-up suspended by a wire rope operated a tilting mechanism mounted to the studio roofbeams. The helicopter had a real minigun side-mounted to it, which was set to cycle at half its regular (3,000 rounds per minute) firing rate.<ref name="Helicopter Rescue">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=Helicopter Rescue |medium=DVD}}</ref>

To prepare for the scene in which Neo wakes up in a pod, Reeves lost {{Convert|15|lb|0}} and shaved his whole body to give Neo an emaciated look. The scene in which Neo fell into the sewer system concluded the principal photography.<ref name="The Power Plant"/> According to ''The Art of the Matrix'', at least one filmed scene and a variety of short pieces of action were omitted from the final cut of the film.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wachowski |first1=Larry |title=The Art of The Matrix |last2=Wachowski |first2=Andy |last3=Darrow, Geof; Skroce, Steve; Kunitake, Tani; Manser, Warren; Grant, Colin; Staenberg, Zach; Oesterhouse, Phil; [[William Gibson|Gibson, William]] |publisher=Titan Books Ltd |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-84023-173-1 |editor-last=Lamm |editor-first=Spencer |publication-date=November 24, 2000}}</ref><!-- Nevertheless, the [[Sydney Harbour Bridge]], [[ANZAC Bridge]], [[University of Technology, Sydney]], [[AWA Tower]], [[Martin Place, Sydney|Martin Place]] and a [[Commonwealth Bank]] branch are visible in some shots, as is signage on buildings for the Sydney offices of MMI Insurance (now [[Allianz]]), [[Aon Corporation|AON]], [[Citigroup]], [[Telstra]], [[Westpac]], [[KPMG]], [[Ernst & Young]] and [[IBM Corporation]] among others. Other clues to the filming location include [[Right- and left-hand traffic|left-hand traffic flow]] and signs featuring [[Australian English]] terminology and spellings such as "lift" and "authorised" (rather than the [[American English]] "elevator" and "authorized").{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} --><!-- Subtle nods were included to [[Chicago, Illinois]], the home city of the directors, through a subtly placed picture of the Chicago [[skyline]], [[city map]]s, the destination of the subway train during the subway station fight between Neo and Agent Smith saying "[[Chicago Loop|Loop]]", and the names of streets: Wells, Lake, Franklin, Erie, State, Balbo, Wabash, Adams.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} -->

=== Sound effects and music ===
{{See also|The Matrix: Original Motion Picture Score|The Matrix: Music from the Motion Picture}}
[[Dane A. Davis]] was responsible for creating the sound effects for the film. The fight scene sound effects, such as the whipping sounds of punches, were created using thin metal rods and recording them, then editing the sounds. The sound of the pod containing a human body closing required almost fifty sounds put together.<ref name="Sound effects">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=Sound effects |medium=DVD}}</ref>

The film's [[film score|score]], ''[[The Matrix: Original Motion Picture Score]]'', was composed by [[Don Davis (composer)|Don Davis]].<ref>{{AllMusic|album|mw0000239692|''The Matrix {{bracket|Score}}''}}.</ref><ref>{{Discogs master|298381|The Matrix: Original Motion Picture Score}}</ref> He noted that mirrors appear frequently in the film: reflections of the blue and red pills are seen in Morpheus's glasses; Neo's capture by Agents is viewed through the rear-view mirror of Trinity's motorcycle; Neo observes a broken mirror mending itself; reflections warp as a spoon is bent; the reflection of a helicopter is visible as it approaches a skyscraper.<!-- (The film also frequently references the book ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'', which has a sequel entitled ''[[Through the Looking-Glass]]''.) --> Davis focused on this theme of reflections when creating his score, alternating between sections of the orchestra and attempting to incorporate [[Counterpoint|contrapuntal]] ideas. Davis' score combines orchestral, choral and synthesizer elements; the balance between these elements varies depending on whether humans or machines are the dominant subject of a given scene.<ref name="The Score">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=The Score |medium=DVD}}</ref><!-- We no longer need this ref, now that we have the DVD as ref.<ref name="mirrors">Don Davis, interviewed in ''[[The Matrix Revisited]]'' (Chapter 28). A transcript of his comments may be found online: {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070429165147/http://www.geocities.com/dondavismatrixnl/Dvdfeaturesdavis.html |date=April 29, 2007 }}</ref> -->
In addition to Davis' score, [[The Matrix: Music from the Motion Picture]] also features music from acts such as [[Rammstein]], [[Rob Dougan]], [[Rage Against the Machine]], [[Propellerheads]], [[Ministry (band)|Ministry]], [[Lunatic Calm]], [[Deftones]], [[Monster Magnet]], [[The Prodigy]], [[Rob Zombie]], [[Meat Beat Manifesto]] and [[Marilyn Manson (band)|Marilyn Manson]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Coleman |first=Christopher |title=Essence of Cool |url=http://www.tracksounds.com/reviews/matrix_music_from.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515045038/http://www.tracksounds.com/reviews/matrix_music_from.htm |archive-date=May 15, 2013 |access-date=December 28, 2012 |publisher=Tracksounds.com }}</ref><ref>{{AllMusic|album|mw0000238626|''The Matrix {{bracket|Music From and Inspired by the Motion Picture}}''}}.</ref><ref>{{Discogs master|view/63357|The Matrix: Music from the Motion Picture}}</ref><!-- Other pieces from artists such as [[Duke Ellington]], [[Django Reinhardt]], and [[Massive Attack]] are included in the film, but not featured on the soundtrack.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} -->

=== Production design ===
{{See also|Matrix digital rain}}
In the film, the code that composes the Matrix itself is frequently represented as downward-flowing green characters.<ref>[https://cactus.black/matrix The Matrix — cactus.black (Black Cactus)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210903040638/https://cactus.black/matrix |date=September 3, 2021 }}, cactus.black</ref> This code uses a custom typeface designed by Simon Whiteley,<ref name="Museum"/> which includes mirror images of [[half-width kana]] characters and Western Latin letters and Arabic numerals.<ref name="Look of the Matrix">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=Look of the Matrix |medium=DVD}}</ref> In a 2017 interview at [[CNET]], he attributed the design to his wife, who is from Japan, and added, "I like to tell everybody that The Matrix's code is made out of Japanese sushi recipes".<ref>{{cite web |last=Bisset |first=Jennifer |date=October 19, 2017 |title=Creator of The Matrix code reveals its mysterious origins |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/lego-ninjago-movie-simon-whiteley-matrix-code-creator/ |access-date=November 5, 2018 |website=[[CNET]] |archive-date=May 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200509142745/https://www.cnet.com/news/lego-ninjago-movie-simon-whiteley-matrix-code-creator/ |url-status=live }}</ref> "The color green reflects the green tint commonly used on early [[monochrome monitor|monochrome computer monitors]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clover |first=Joshua |url=https://archive.org/details/matrix0000clov |title=The Matrix |publisher=[[British Film Institute|BFI Publishing]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-84457-045-4 |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/matrix0000clov/page/8 8–9] |quote=In the denouement [of ''The Thirteenth Floor''], Douglas Hall simply crests a hill to discover that what he had thought was the real world has, beyond this point, yet to be constructed. In lieu of landscape, only crude phosphor-green polygons, the basic units of video graphics rendering, in the primal monochrome of an old CRT. The raw material of the simulation is even more basic in ''The Matrix'' – machine language itself, in the same familiar green{{nbsp}}... |url-access=registration}}</ref> Lynne Cartwright, the Visual Effects Supervisor at [[Animal Logic]], supervised the creation of the film's opening title sequence, as well as the general look of the Matrix code throughout the film, in collaboration with Lindsay Fleay and Justen Marshall.<ref name="Museum"/> The portrayal resembles the opening credits of the 1995 [[Japanese cyberpunk]] film, ''[[Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)|Ghost in the Shell]]'', which had a strong influence on the ''Matrix'' series. It was also used in the subsequent films, on the related website, and in the game ''[[The Matrix: Path of Neo]]'', and its drop-down effect is reflected in the design of some posters for the ''Matrix'' series. The code received the Runner-up Award in the 1999 Jesse Garson Award for In-film typography or opening credit sequence.<ref name="Museum"/>

''The Matrix''{{'}}s [[production design]]er, [[Owen Paterson (production designer)|Owen Paterson]], used methods to distinguish the "real world" and the Matrix in a pervasive way. The production design team generally placed a bias towards the Matrix code's distinctive green color in scenes set within the simulation, whereas there is an emphasis on the color blue during scenes set in the "real world". In addition, the Matrix scenes' sets were slightly more decayed, monolithic and grid-like, to convey the cold, logical and artificial nature of that environment. For the "real world", the actors' hair was less styled, their clothing had more textile content, and the cinematographers used longer lenses to soften the backgrounds and emphasize the actors.<ref name="Look of the Matrix"/>

The ''[[Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix)|Nebuchadnezzar]]'' was designed to have a patched-up look, instead of clean, cold and sterile space ship interior sets as used on productions such as ''[[Star Trek]]''. The wires were made visible to show the ship's working internals, and each composition was carefully designed to convey the ship as "a marriage between Man and Machine".<ref name="The Nebuchadnezzar">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=The Nebuchadnezzar |medium=DVD}}</ref> For the scene when Neo wakes up in the pod connected to the Matrix, the pod was constructed to look dirty, used and sinister. During the testing of a breathing mechanism in the pod, the tester suffered hypothermia in under eight minutes, so the pod had to be heated.<ref name="The Power Plant">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=The Power Plant |medium=DVD}}</ref>

[[Kym Barrett]], costume designer, said that she defined the characters and their environment by their costume.<ref name="Costume">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=Costume |medium=DVD}}</ref> For example, Reeves's office costume was designed for Thomas Anderson to look uncomfortable, disheveled and out of place.<ref name="The Shooting Begins">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=The Shooting Begins |medium=DVD}}</ref> Barrett sometimes used three types of fabric for each costume, and also had to consider the practicality of the acting. The actors needed to perform martial art actions in their costume, hang upside-down without people seeing up their clothing, and be able to work the wires while strapped into the harnesses.<ref name="Costume"/> For Trinity, Barrett experimented with how each fabric absorbed and reflected different types of light, and was eventually able to make Trinity's costume mercury-like and oil-slick to suit the character.<ref name="Trinity"/> For the Agents, their costume was designed to create a secret service, undercover look, resembling the film ''[[JFK (film)|JFK]]'' and classic [[men in black]].<ref name="Interrogation Room"/>

The sunglasses, a staple of the film's aesthetics, were commissioned for the film by designer Richard Walker from sunglasses maker Blinde Design.<ref>{{cite web |last=Navratil, Wendy |date=May 4, 2003 |title=Neo's cool and so are his shades |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2003/05/04/neos-cool-and-so-are-his-shades/ |access-date=July 7, 2012 |website=[[Chicago Tribune]] |publisher=[[Tribune Company]] |archive-date=May 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516010955/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-05-04/features/0305040269_1_matrix-glasses-morpheus |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Visual effects ===
[[File:The Matrix Bullet Time Effect.ogv|thumb|The "[[bullet time]]" effect was created for the film. A scene would be computer-modeled to decide the positioning of the physical cameras. The actor then provided their performance in a [[chroma key]] setup, while the cameras were fired in rapid succession, with fractions of a second delay between each shot. The result was combined with CGI backgrounds to create the final effect at (0:33).|alt=Video sample of the film]]

{{blockquote|As for artistic inspiration for bullet time, I would credit [[Otomo Katsuhiro]], who co-wrote and directed ''[[Akira (1988 film)|Akira]]'', which definitely blew me away, along with director [[Michel Gondry]]. His music videos experimented with a different type of technique called view-morphing and it was just part of the beginning of uncovering the creative approaches toward using still cameras for special effects. Our technique was significantly different because we built it to move around objects that were themselves in motion, and we were also able to create slow-motion events that 'virtual cameras' could move around—rather than the static action in Gondry's music videos with limited camera moves.|[[John Gaeta]]<ref name="gaeta-empire">{{Cite journal |date=February 2006 |title=200 Things That Rocked Our World: Bullet Time |journal=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]] |issue=200 |page=136}}</ref>}}

The film is known for popularizing a [[visual effect]]<ref name="Lane City of God"/> known as "[[bullet time]]", which allows a [[shot (filmmaking)|shot]] to progress in [[slow motion]] while the camera appears to move through the scene at normal speed.<ref name="guardian-sfx">{{Cite news |last=Green |first=Dave |date=June 5, 1999 |title=Better than SFX |work=Guardian.co.uk |publisher=[[Guardian Media Group]] |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/jun/05/features2 |access-date=December 18, 2009 |archive-date=December 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223102908/https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/jun/05/features2 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Shields |first=Meg |date=December 23, 2021 |title=How They Shot the "Bullet-Time" Effect in 'The Matrix' |url=https://filmschoolrejects.com/the-matrix-bullet-time/ |access-date=September 15, 2023 |website=Film School Rejects |language=en-US}}</ref> Bullet time has been described as "a visual analogy for privileged moments of consciousness within the Matrix",<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clover |first=Joshua |url=https://archive.org/details/matrix0000clov |title=The Matrix |publisher=[[British Film Institute|BFI Publishing]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-84457-045-4 |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/matrix0000clov/page/35 35] |url-access=registration}}</ref> and throughout the film, the effect is used to illustrate characters' exertion of control over time and space.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wood |first=Aylish |title=Digital Encounters |date=April 17, 2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-41066-3 |edition=New}}</ref> The Wachowskis first imagined an action sequence that slowed time while the camera pivoted rapidly around the subjects, and proposed the effect in their screenplay for the film. When [[John Gaeta]] read the script, he pleaded with an effects producer at [[Manex Visual Effects|Mass.Illusion]] to let him work on the project, and created a prototype that led to him becoming the film's visual effects supervisor.<ref name="Wired VFX">{{Cite magazine |last=Silberman, Steve |date=May 2003 |title=Matrix2 |url=https://www.wired.com/2003/05/matrix2/ |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |access-date=December 25, 2012 |archive-date=March 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200304014830/https://www.wired.com/2003/05/matrix2/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=March 31, 2019 |title=Bullet Time before Bullet Time - beforesandafters.com |url=https://beforesandafters.com/2019/04/01/bullet-time-before-bullet-time/ |access-date=September 15, 2023 |website=befores & afters |language=en-US}}</ref>

The method used for creating these effects involved a technically expanded version of an old art photography technique known as time-slice photography, in which an array of cameras are placed around an object and triggered simultaneously. Each camera captures a still picture, contributing one frame to the video sequence, which creates the effect of "virtual camera movement"; the illusion of a viewpoint moving around an object that appears frozen in time.<ref name="guardian-sfx"/>

The bullet time effect is similar but slightly more complicated, incorporating temporal motion so that rather than appearing totally frozen, the scene progresses in slow and variable motion.<ref name="gaeta-empire"/><ref name="Wired VFX"/> The cameras' positions and exposures were [[Previsualization|previsualized]] using a 3D simulation. Instead of firing the cameras simultaneously, the visual effect team fired the cameras fractions of a second after each other, so that each camera could capture the action as it progressed, creating a super slow-motion effect.<ref name="guardian-sfx"/> When the frames were put together, the resulting slow-motion effects reached a [[frame frequency]] of 12,000 per second, as opposed to the normal 24 frames per second of film.<ref name="Influence Screened"/> Standard movie cameras were placed at the ends of the array to pick up the normal speed action before and after. Because the cameras circle the subject almost completely in most of the sequences, computer technology was used to edit out the cameras that appeared in the background on the other side.<ref name="guardian-sfx"/> To create backgrounds, Gaeta hired George Borshukov, who created 3D models based on the geometry of buildings and used the photographs of the buildings themselves as texture.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

The photo-realistic surroundings generated by this method were incorporated into the bullet time scene,<ref name="Wired VFX"/> and algorithms based on [[optical flow]] were used to interpolate between the still images to produce a fluent dynamic motion;<ref>{{cite web |last=Seymour |first=Mike |title=Art of Optical Flow |url=https://www.fxguide.com/featured/art_of_optical_flow/ |access-date=March 25, 2019 |website=fxguide |date=February 28, 2006 |archive-date=March 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325005829/https://www.fxguide.com/featured/art_of_optical_flow/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Buckley |first=Robert |title=Film Essay on The "Bullet Time" Scene In "The Matrix" |url=http://scis.nova.edu/~rbuckley/Film%20Essay.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515001756/http://scis.nova.edu/~rbuckley/Film%20Essay.pdf |archive-date=May 15, 2013 |access-date=December 27, 2012 |publisher=Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences, Nova Southeastern University }}</ref> the computer-generated "lead in" and "lead out" slides were filled in between frames in sequence to get an illusion of orbiting the scene.<ref>{{cite web |last=Tiwari |first=Abhishek |title=Bullet Time Technique |url=http://www.sbc.ac.in/voice/bullet.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915002004/http://www.sbc.ac.in/voice/bullet.htm |archive-date=September 15, 2012 |access-date=December 27, 2012 |website=Voice |publisher=School of Broadcasting and Communication |location=Mumbai }}</ref> Manex Visual Effects used a [[cluster (computing)|cluster]] farm running the [[Unix-like]] [[operating system]] [[FreeBSD]] to render many of the film's visual effects.<ref>{{cite web |date=January 23, 2008 |title=Comment about the use of FreeBSD (5:50) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAsYz5pVwyc#t=5m45s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/bAsYz5pVwyc| archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=January 29, 2012 |website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=April 22, 1999 |title=FreeBSD Used to Generate Spectacular Special Effects |url=http://www.freebsd.org/news/press-rel-1.html |access-date=July 19, 2012 |archive-date=August 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120818022437/http://www.freebsd.org/news/press-rel-1.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Manex also handled creature effects, such as Sentinels and machines in real world scenes; [[Animal Logic]] created the code hallway and the exploding Agent at the end of the film. DFilm managed scenes that required heavy use of digital compositing, such as Neo's jump off a skyscraper and the helicopter crash into a building. The ripple effect in the latter scene was created digitally, but the shot also included practical elements, and months of extensive research were needed to find the correct kind of glass and explosives to use. The scene was shot by colliding a quarter-scale helicopter mock-up into a glass wall wired to concentric rings of explosives; the explosives were then triggered in sequence from the center outward, to create a wave of exploding glass.<ref name="Post-production">{{Cite AV media |title=[[The Matrix Revisited]] |date=November 20, 2001 |last=Oreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |section=Post-production |medium=DVD}}</ref>

The [[Photogrammetry|photogrammetric]] and image-based [[computer-generated imagery|computer-generated]] background approaches in ''The Matrix''{{'}}s bullet time evolved into innovations unveiled in the sequels ''[[The Matrix Reloaded]]'' and ''[[The Matrix Revolutions]]''. The method of using real photographs of buildings as texture for 3D models eventually led the visual effect team to digitize all data, such as scenes, characters' motions and expressions. It also led to the development of "Universal Capture", a process which samples and stores facial details and expressions at high resolution. With these highly detailed collected data, the team were able to create virtual cinematography in which characters, locations and events can all be created digitally and viewed through virtual cameras, eliminating the restrictions of real cameras.<ref name="Wired VFX"/>

== Release ==
=== Home media ===
''The Matrix'' was released on [[DVD-Video|DVD]] and [[Laserdisc]] in its original [[aspect ratio]] of [[2.39:1]] on September 21, 1999, in the US from [[Warner Home Video]] as well as in [[Aspect ratio (image)|1.33:1]] aspect ratio in [[Hong Kong]] from ERA Home Entertainment. It was also released on [[VHS]] in both [[Fullscreen (filmmaking)|full screen]] and [[widescreen]] formats on {{Nowrap|December 7}}, 1999.<ref name="Mojo"/> After its DVD release, it was the first DVD to sell more than one million copies in the US.<ref name="Million sales">{{Cite news |last=Warner Home Video |date=March 23, 2007 |title=The Matrix is Coming to HD DVD |work=Comingsoon.net |publisher=CraveOnline Media |url=https://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=19508 |access-date=March 23, 2007 |archive-date=May 29, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529085500/http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=19508 |url-status=dead }}</ref><!--<ref name="dvdsales">{{Cite web |date=August 1, 2000 |title=Press release – August 1, 2000 – The Matrix DVD: The first to sell 3 million |url=http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rl_cmp/rl_press_August_01_00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080305104849/http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rl_cmp/rl_press_August_01_00.html |archive-date=March 5, 2008 |access-date=April 10, 2012 |website=Whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |location=[[Burbank, California]]}}</ref> --> By 2000, the film went on to become the first to sell more than three million copies in the US.<ref name="Influence Screened">{{cite web |last=Godoski |first=Andrew |title=Under The Influence: The Matrix |url=http://www.screened.com/news/under-the-influence-the-matrix/2218/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130205085233/http://www.screened.com/news/under-the-influence-the-matrix/2218/ |archive-date=February 5, 2013 |access-date=December 22, 2012 |website=[[Screened.com]] }}</ref> At that point, it became the top-selling DVD release of all time, holding this record for a few months before being surpassed by ''[[Gladiator (2000 film)|Gladiator]]''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106805458/gladiator-hits-dvd-highs/ |title='Gladiator' Hits DVD Highs |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802162021/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106805458/gladiator-hits-dvd-highs/ |date=January 10, 2001 |access-date=August 2, 2022 |archive-date=August 2, 2022 |page=64 |work=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url-status=live}} {{Open access}}</ref> By {{Nowrap|November 10}}, 2003, one month after ''The Matrix Reloaded'' DVD was released, the sales of ''The Matrix'' DVD had exceeded 30 million copies.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Holson, Laura |date=November 10, 2003 |title=An Elf and a Bear Trip Up the Final 'Matrix' |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/10/business/an-elf-and-a-bear-trip-up-the-final-matrix.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=December 21, 2012 |archive-date=May 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516015856/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/10/business/an-elf-and-a-bear-trip-up-the-final-matrix.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It then debuted on both VHS and DVD formats in the UK on {{Nowrap|November 29}}, 1999. ''The Matrix'' sold more than 107,000 DVD copies in just two weeks, breaking ''[[Armageddon (1998 film)|Armageddon]]''{{'}}s record for being the country's best-selling DVD title.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Boehm |first=Erich |date=December 13, 1999 |title='Matrix' DVD breaks sales records in U.K. |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |url=https://variety.com/1999/film/news/matrix-dvd-breaks-sales-records-in-u-k-1117759936/ |access-date=May 26, 2022 |archive-date=May 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528163852/https://variety.com/1999/film/news/matrix-dvd-breaks-sales-records-in-u-k-1117759936/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[The Ultimate Matrix Collection]] was released on [[HD DVD]] on {{Nowrap|May 22}}, 2007,<ref name="Million sales"/> and on [[Blu-ray]] on {{Nowrap|October 14}}, 2008.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Warner Home Video |date=July 25, 2008 |title='Ultimate Matrix' Blu-ray Coming in October |publisher=highdefdigest.com |url=http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Disc_Announcements/Warner/Ultimate_Matrix_Blu-ray_Coming_in_October/1944 |access-date=August 18, 2008 |archive-date=August 18, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080818012754/http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Disc_Announcements/Warner/Ultimate_Matrix_Blu-ray_Coming_in_October/1944 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="DVD Release Date">{{cite web |title=The Matrix DVD Release Date |url=https://www.dvdsreleasedates.com/movies/2585/The-Matrix-(1999).html |access-date=May 21, 2018 |website=DVDs Release Dates |language=en-US |archive-date=May 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522041643/https://www.dvdsreleasedates.com/movies/2585/The-Matrix-(1999).html |url-status=live }}</ref> The film was also released standalone in a 10th-anniversary edition Blu-ray in the Digibook format on {{Nowrap|March 31}}, 2009, ten years to the day after the film was released theatrically.<ref>{{cite web |title=Warner Home Video sends over details on a 10th Anniversary Blu-ray release |url=http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/the-matrix.html |access-date=December 13, 2009 |publisher=Dvdactive.com |archive-date=July 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710155456/http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/the-matrix.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2010, the film had another DVD release along with the two sequels as ''The Complete Matrix Trilogy''. It was also released on 4K HDR Blu-ray on May 22, 2018.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Matrix – 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray (German Import) |url=https://ultrahd.highdefdigest.com/56871/thematrix4kultrahdbluraygermanimport.html |access-date=May 21, 2018 |website=ultrahd.highdefdigest.com |archive-date=December 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223215131/https://ultrahd.highdefdigest.com/56871/thematrix4kultrahdbluraygermanimport.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The film as part of ''The Matrix Trilogy'' was released on [[4K resolution|4K]] [[Ultra HD Blu-ray]] on October 30, 2018.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Matrix Trilogy – 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Ultra HD Review {{!}} High Def Digest |url=https://ultrahd.highdefdigest.com/62394/thematrixtrilogy4kultrahdbluray.html |access-date=January 24, 2019 |website=ultrahd.highdefdigest.com |archive-date=October 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015163159/https://ultrahd.highdefdigest.com/62394/thematrixtrilogy4kultrahdbluray.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Other media ===
The franchise also contains four video games: ''[[Enter the Matrix]]'' (2003), which contains footage shot specifically for the game and chronicles events taking place before and during ''[[The Matrix Reloaded]]'';<ref>{{cite web |last=Gerstmann |first=Jeff |date=May 20, 2003 |title=Enter the Matrix Review |url=https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/enter-the-matrix-review/1900-6028623/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018160907/https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/enter-the-matrix-review/1900-6028623/ |archive-date=October 18, 2020 |access-date=September 10, 2021 |publisher=Gamespot }}</ref> ''[[The Matrix Online]]'' (2004), an [[MMORPG]] which continued the story beyond ''The Matrix Revolutions'';<ref>{{cite web |last=Butts |first=Steve |date=April 15, 2005 |title=The Matrix Online, I changed my mind; I want the blue pill. |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/04/15/the-matrix-online |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224043054/http://www.ign.com/articles/2005/04/15/the-matrix-online |archive-date=February 24, 2014 |access-date=November 29, 2012 |website=[[IGN]] |publisher=[[News Corporation (1980–2013)|News Corporation]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Kasavin|first=Greg|date=April 4, 2005|title=The Matrix Online Review|url=https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/the-matrix-online-review/1900-6121636/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210908135420/https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/the-matrix-online-review/1900-6121636/|archive-date=September 8, 2021|access-date=September 10, 2021|publisher=Gamespot}}</ref> ''[[The Matrix: Path of Neo]]'' (2005), which focuses on Neo's journey through the trilogy of films;<ref>{{cite web |last=Dunham |first=Jeremy |date=November 17, 2005 |title=The Matrix: Path of Neo, There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/11/17/the-matrix-path-of-neo |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121116021634/http://www.ign.com/articles/2005/11/17/the-matrix-path-of-neo |archive-date=November 16, 2012 |access-date=November 29, 2012 |website=[[IGN]] |publisher=[[News Corporation (1980–2013)|News Corporation]] }}</ref> and ''[[The Matrix Awakens]]'' (2021), an interactive technology demonstration developed by ''[[Epic Games]]'' using ''[[Unreal Engine 5]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hornshaw |first=Phil |date=December 9, 2021 |title=The Matrix Awakens Unreal Engine 5 Demo Might Make You Wonder What's Real|url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-matrix-awakens-unreal-engine-5-demo-might-make-you-wonder-whats-real/1100-6498843/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211210041244/https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-matrix-awakens-unreal-engine-5-demo-might-make-you-wonder-whats-real/1100-6498843/ |archive-date=December 10, 2021 |access-date=December 10, 2021 |publisher=Gamespot}}</ref>

The franchise also includes ''[[The Matrix Comics]]'', a series of [[comic book|comics]] and short stories set in the world of ''The Matrix'', written and illustrated by figures from the comics industry. Most of the comics were originally presented for free on the official ''Matrix'' website;<ref name="comics">{{cite web |title=Comics |url=http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rl_cmp/comics_new_front.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815230811/http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rl_cmp/comics_new_front.html |archive-date=August 15, 2007 |access-date=April 11, 2012 |website=whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com}}</ref> they were later republished, along with some new material, in two printed [[Trade paperback (comics)|trade paperback]] volumes, called ''The Matrix Comics, Vol 1 and Vol 2''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Matrix Comics |date=November 2003 |publisher=[[Burlyman Entertainment]] |isbn=978-1-84023-806-8 |volume=1}}</ref>

== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
''The Matrix'' grossed $27.8 million during its opening weekend, as well as earning $37.4 million in its first five days.<ref name="ShowsMuscle">{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-apr-05-ca-24239-story.html|title='Matrix' Shows Its Muscle|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=April 5, 1999|access-date=March 10, 2022|archive-date=March 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310202202/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-apr-05-ca-24239-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It surpassed ''[[Lost in Space (film)|Lost in Space]]'' and ''[[Indecent Proposal]]'' simultaneously for having the biggest April and [[Easter]] opening weekends.<ref name="ShowsMuscle"/> The film also had the second-highest opening weekend for a spring starter film, trailing behind ''[[Liar Liar]]''.<ref name="ShowsMuscle"/> Three years later in 2002, ''The Matrix''{{'}}s records for having the largest April and Easter opening weekends would be taken by ''[[The Scorpion King]]'' and ''[[Panic Room]]'' respectively.<ref>{{cite news |title='Scorpion King' dominates US box office |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/2002/04/21/Scorpion-King-dominates-US-box-office/8971019361600/ |access-date=March 6, 2022 |work=[[United Press International]] |date=April 21, 2002 |archive-date=March 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220306182625/https://www.upi.com/Archives/2002/04/21/Scorpion-King-dominates-US-box-office/8971019361600/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title='Room' dominates US box office |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/2002/03/31/Room-dominates-US-box-office/4471017550800/ |access-date=May 11, 2022 |work=[[United Press International]] |date=March 31, 2002 }}</ref> Upon its opening, it had the highest opening weekend of any 1999 film until that point, easily topping ''[[Payback (1999 film)|Payback]]''.<ref name="ShowsMuscle"/> Additionally, this was the biggest opening weekend for a [[Keanu Reeves]] film since ''[[Speed (1994 film)|Speed]]'' in 1994.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112652165/matrix-tops-weekend-box-office/ |title='Matrix' tops weekend box office |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221106220842/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112652165/matrix-tops-weekend-box-office/ |newspaper=[[The Cincinnati Enquirer]] |page=33 |date=April 5, 1999 |access-date=November 6, 2022 |archive-date=November 6, 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url-status=live}} {{Open access}}</ref> It would go on to rank number one at the box office during its first weekend, beating out ''[[Forces of Nature (1999 film)|Forces of Nature]]'', ''[[10 Things I Hate About You]]'', ''[[The Out-of-Towners (1999 film)|The Out-of-Towners]]'', ''[[Analyze This]]'' and ''[[EDtv]]''.<ref name="ShowsMuscle"/> The film would remain at the top of the box office for two weeks until it was overtaken by ''[[Life (1999 film)|Life]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Welkos |first=Robert W. |date=April 20, 1999 |title=Eddie Murphy's Charmed 'Life' |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-apr-20-ca-29063-story.html |access-date=May 31, 2012}}</ref> During its fourth weekend, ''The Matrix'' briefly returned to the number one spot.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-des-moines-register-weekend-moviegoe/124978370/ |title=Weekend moviegoers make 'Matrix' No. 1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230519202919/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-des-moines-register-weekend-moviegoe/124978370/ |date=April 26, 1999 |access-date=May 19, 2023 |archive-date=May 19, 2023 |page=27 |publisher=[[The Des Moines Register]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url-status=live}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/article/ed3983803396/|title=Forecast: Matrix Reclaims #1|first=Brandon|last=Gray|publisher=[[Box Office Mojo]]|access-date=May 19, 2022|archive-date=May 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519044745/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/article/ed3983803396/|url-status=live}}</ref> The following week, the film would be displaced by ''[[Entrapment (film)|Entrapment]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-may-03-ca-33435-story.html|title='Entrapment' Snares Top Spot With Charismatic Stars' Help|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=May 3, 1999|access-date=July 3, 2022|archive-date=July 3, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703152230/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-may-03-ca-33435-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the UK, ''The Matrix'' earned $4.9 million in its first three days, ranking it as the third-highest opening weekend for a [[Warner Bros.]] film, behind ''[[Batman Forever]]'' and ''[[Batman & Robin (film)|Batman & Robin]]'', while also delivering the third-highest opening weekend of the year, after ''[[A Bug's Life]]'' and ''[[Notting Hill (film)|Notting Hill]]''.<ref name="BigPix">{{Cite news |last=Groves |first=Don |date=June 15, 1999 |title=Big pix plow o'seas |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |url=https://variety.com/1999/film/news/big-pix-plow-o-seas-1117503071/ |access-date=October 16, 2024 }}</ref> The film grossed $1.8 million in Taiwan, making the third-highest opening there, behind ''[[Armageddon (1998 film)|Armageddon]]'' and ''[[The Lost World: Jurassic Park]]''.<ref name="BigPix" /> Additionally, it managed to surpass ''[[Lethal Weapon 4]]'' for having the market's highest opening for Warner Bros.<ref name="BigPix" /> It also surpassed ''[[Eraser (film)|Eraser]]'' to secure the distributor's highest opening weekend in Germany, collecting $592,000.<ref name="BigPix" />

In its original run, the film earned $171,479,930 (37.0%) in the United States and Canada and $292,037,453 (63.0%) in other countries, for a worldwide total of $463,517,383.<ref name="Mojo"/> In [[North America]], it went on to become the fifth highest-grossing film of 1999 and the highest-grossing R-rated film of that year. Worldwide, it was the fourth-highest-grossing film of the year, after ''[[Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace]]'', ''[[The Sixth Sense]]'' and ''[[Toy Story 2]]''.<ref name="Mojo"/> ''The Matrix'' became the second-highest-grossing Warner Bros. film of all time, behind ''[[Twister (1996 film)|Twister]]''.<ref name="ResurrectionsHistory">{{cite web|last1=Mendelson |first1=Scott |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2021/11/17/matrix-resurrections-keanu-reeves-carrie-anne-moss-lana-box-office-2b-wachowski/?sh=183535ba698a|title=How 'The Matrix Resurrections' Can Make R-Rated Box Office History|website=[[Forbes]]|access-date=March 10, 2022|archive-date=March 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310202203/https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2021/11/17/matrix-resurrections-keanu-reeves-carrie-anne-moss-lana-box-office-2b-wachowski/?sh=183535ba698a|url-status=live}}</ref> Overall, it was the third-highest-grossing R-rated film at the time, just after ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'' and ''[[Terminator 2: Judgment Day]]''.<ref name="ResurrectionsHistory"/> Following re-releases, the worldwide gross of the film is $466,621,824.<ref name="Mojo"/> In 2012, it was placed 122nd on the list of highest-grossing films of all time, and the second-highest-grossing film in the ''Matrix'' franchise after ''The Matrix Reloaded'' ($742.1&nbsp;million).<ref name="Mojo"/>

=== Critical response ===
''The Matrix'' was praised by many critics, as well as filmmakers, and authors of science fiction,<ref name="meta"/> especially for its "spectacular action" scenes and its "groundbreaking special effects". Some have described ''The Matrix'' as one of the best [[science fiction film]]s of all time;<ref name="heritage1"/><ref name="autogenerated1"/><!--<ref name="Genre's Best"/><ref name="Entertainment Weekly"/>--> ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' called ''The Matrix'' "the most influential action movie of the generation".<ref name="Influence EW2">{{cite magazine |last=Fierman, Daniel |date=May 12, 2003 |title=EW hacks into ''The Matrix Reloaded'' |url=https://ew.com/article/2003/05/12/ew-hacks-matrix-reloaded/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602162059/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,450805,00.html |archive-date=June 2, 2013 |access-date=December 22, 2012 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |publisher=Time Warner |quote=''The Matrix'' is the most influential action movie of its generation. ... since the movie's release in March 1999, every 360-degree sweep of a camera, every black-clad hero, every sexy yet deadly heroine, every bullet rippling slowly through the air, is a rip-off that can be traced back to writer-directors Andy and Larry Wachowski. ... They triggered countless pale imitations and dull-witted parodies.}}</ref> There have also been those, including philosopher [[William Irwin (philosopher)|William Irwin]], who have suggested that the film explores significant philosophical and spiritual themes. On [[review aggregator]] [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of 83% based on 210 reviews, with an average score of 7.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Thanks to the Wachowskis' imaginative vision, ''The Matrix'' is a smartly crafted combination of spectacular action and groundbreaking special effects".<ref name=RottenTomatoes/> At [[Metacritic]], which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received a score of 73 based on 35 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".<ref name="meta"/> Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.<ref name="CinemaScore">{{cite web |title=CinemaScore |url=https://www.cinemascore.com/ |website=cinemascore.com |access-date=October 17, 2017 |archive-date=April 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220413083139/https://www.cinemascore.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It ranked 323rd among critics, and 546th among directors, in the [[The Sight & Sound Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time|2012 ''Sight & Sound'' polls of the greatest films ever made]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Votes for ''The Matrix'' (1999) |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b81295544/sightandsoundpoll2012 |access-date=November 26, 2018 |website=[[Sight & Sound]] |publisher=British Film Institute |archive-date=November 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181126221509/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b81295544/sightandsoundpoll2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Philip Strick commented in ''[[Sight & Sound]]'', if the Wachowskis "claim no originality of message, they are startling innovators of method," praising the film's details and its "broadside of astonishing images".<ref name="sightandsound">{{cite web |last=Strick |first=Philip |title=''Sight & Sound'' – ''The Matrix'' (1999) |url=http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/151 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003061452/http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/151 |archive-date=October 3, 2018 |access-date=October 30, 2012 |website=Sight & Sound |publisher=British Film Institute}}</ref> [[Roger Ebert]] gave the film three stars out of four: he praised the film's visuals and premise, but disliked the [[Three-act structure|third act]]'s focus on action.<ref name="rogerebert"/> Similarly, ''[[Time Out Group|Time Out]]'' praised the "entertainingly ingenious" switches between different realities, [[Hugo Weaving]]'s "engagingly odd" performance, and the film's cinematography and production design, but concluded, "the promising premise is steadily wasted as the film turns into a fairly routine action pic&nbsp;... yet another slice of overlong, high-concept hokum."<ref name="timeout">{{cite web |title=Time Out Film Review – The Matrix |url=https://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/72947/the-matrix.html |access-date=January 16, 2012 |website=Time Out Film Guide |publisher=[[Time Out (company)|Time Out]] |archive-date=December 27, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227173045/http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/72947/the-matrix.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Jonathan Rosenbaum]] of the ''[[Chicago Reader]]'' reviewed the film negatively, criticizing it as "simpleminded fun for roughly the first hour, until the movie becomes overwhelmed by its many sources ... There's not much humor to keep it all life-size, and by the final stretch it's become bloated, mechanical, and tiresome."<ref name="Rosenbaum review">{{cite web |last=Rosenbaum, Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Rosenbaum |title=The Matrix |url=http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/17448_MATRIX.html |access-date=November 15, 2012 |website=[[Chicago Reader]] |publisher=[[Sun-Times Media Group]]|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060421101934/http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/17448_MATRIX.html|archive-date= April 21, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Ian Nathan of ''[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]'' described Carrie-Anne Moss as "a major find", praised the "surreal visual highs" enabled by the bullet time (or "flo-mo") effect, and described the film as "technically mind-blowing, style merged perfectly with content and just so damn cool". Nathan remarked that although the film's "looney plot" would not stand up to scrutiny, that was not a big flaw because "''The Matrix'' is about pure experience".<ref name="Empire review">{{cite web |last=Nathan, Ian |date=January 1, 1999 |title=The Matrix Review |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/matrix-review/ |access-date=November 15, 2012 |website=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]] |publisher=[[Bauer Media Group|Bauer Consumer Media]] |archive-date=October 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191019072757/https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/matrix-review/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Maitland McDonagh]] said in her review for ''[[TV Guide]]'', the Wachowskis' "through-the-looking-glass plot... manages to work surprisingly well on a number of levels: as a dystopian sci-fi thriller, as a brilliant excuse for the film's lavish and hyperkinetic fight scenes, and as a pretty compelling call to the dead-above-the-eyeballs masses to unite and cast off their chains... This dazzling pop allegory is steeped in a dark, pulpy sensibility that transcends nostalgic pastiche and stands firmly on its own merits."<ref name="TV Guide review">{{cite web |last=McDonagh |first=Maitland |author-link=Maitland McDonagh |title=The Matrix: Review |url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-matrix/review/2000300476/ |access-date=December 3, 2012 |website=[[TV Guide]] |archive-date=October 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018041958/https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-matrix/review/2000300476/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

''[[Salon (website)|Salon]]''{{'}}s reviewer Andrew O'Hehir acknowledged that although ''The Matrix'' is in his view a fundamentally immature and unoriginal film ("It lacks anything like adult emotion... all this pseudo-spiritual hokum, along with the over-ramped onslaught of special effects—some of them quite amazing—will hold 14-year-old boys in rapture, not to mention those of us of all ages and genders who still harbor a 14-year-old boy somewhere inside"), he concluded, "as in ''[[Bound (1996 film)|Bound]]'', there's an appealing scope and daring to the Wachowskis' work, and their eagerness for more plot twists and more crazy images becomes increasingly infectious. In a limited and profoundly geeky sense, this might be an important and generous film. The Wachowskis have little feeling for character or human interaction, but their passion for ''movies''—for making them, watching them, inhabiting their world—is pure and deep."<ref name="Salon review">{{cite web |last=O'Hehir, Andrew |date=April 2, 1999 |title=Short attention spawn |url=http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/reviews/1999/04/02reviewa.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090523103506/http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/reviews/1999/04/02reviewa.html |archive-date=May 23, 2009 |access-date=November 15, 2012 |website=[[Salon (website)|Salon]]}}</ref>

Filmmakers and science fiction creators alike generally took a complimentary perspective of ''The Matrix''. [[William Gibson]], a key figure in cyberpunk fiction, called the film "an innocent delight I hadn't felt in a long time", and stated, "Neo is my favourite-ever science fiction hero, absolutely."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wachowski |first1=Larry |title=The Art of The Matrix |last2=Wachowski |first2=Andy |last3=Darrow, Geof; Skroce, Steve; Kunitake, Tani; Manser, Warren; Grant, Colin; Staenberg, Zach; Oesterhouse, Phil; [[William Gibson|Gibson, William]] |publisher=Titan Books Ltd |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-84023-173-1 |editor-last=Lamm |editor-first=Spencer |publication-date=November 24, 2000 |page=451}}</ref> [[Joss Whedon]] called the film "my number one" and praised its storytelling, structure and depth, concluding, "It works on whatever level you want to bring to it".<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 2006 |title=The 201 Greatest Movies of all Time |page=98 |work=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]] |publisher=[[Emap]] |issue=201}}</ref> [[Darren Aronofsky]] commented, "I walked out of ''The Matrix''&nbsp;... and I was thinking, 'What kind of science fiction movie can people make now?' The Wachowskis basically took all the great sci-fi ideas of the 20th century and rolled them into a delicious pop culture sandwich that everyone on the planet devoured."<ref name="Aronofsky:">{{Cite news |last=Silberman |first=Steve |date=November 2006 |title=The Outsider |volume=14 |page=224 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |publisher=[[Condé Nast Publications]] |issue=11 |url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/outsider.html |access-date=January 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070103224923/https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/outsider.html|archive-date=January 3, 2007}}</ref> [[M. Night Shyamalan]] expressed admiration for the Wachowskis, stating, "Whatever you think of ''The Matrix'', every shot is there because of the passion they have! You can see they argued it out!".<ref name="Shyamalan:">{{cite news |last=Malanowski |first=Jamie |date=March 12, 2000 |title=Oscar films/First timers; A Director With a Sense of Where He's Going |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F05E3DE1038F931A25750C0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=3 |url-access=subscription |access-date=January 4, 2012 |work=[[The New York Times]] }}</ref> [[Simon Pegg]] said that ''The Matrix'' provided "the excitement and satisfaction that ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'' failed to inspire. ''The Matrix'' seemed fresh and cool and visually breathtaking; making wonderful, intelligent use of CGI to augment the on-screen action, striking a perfect balance of the real and the hyperreal. It was possibly the coolest film I had ever seen."<ref name="simonpegg">{{Cite book |last=Pegg |first=Simon |title=Nerd Do Well |publisher=[[Random House]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-84605-811-0 |location=London |page=323}}</ref> [[Quentin Tarantino]] counted ''The Matrix'' as one of his twenty favorite movies from 1992 to 2009.<ref name="Tarantino:">{{cite web |last=Brown |first=Lane |title=Team America, Anything Else Among the Best Movies of the Past Seventeen Years, Claims Quentin Tarantino |url=https://www.vulture.com/2009/08/speed_and_team_america_among_q.html |access-date=May 25, 2013 |website=[[New York (magazine)|Vulture]] |date=August 17, 2009 |publisher=New York Media LLC |archive-date=February 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130213073053/http://www.vulture.com/2009/08/speed_and_team_america_among_q.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[James Cameron]] called it "one of the most profoundly fresh science fiction films ever made".<ref>{{cite web |last=Boucher |first=Geoff |date=August 29, 2019 |title='Terminator: Dark Fate': James Cameron On Rewired Franchise, Possible New Trilogy |url=https://deadline.com/2019/08/terminator-dark-fate-james-cameron-on-re-wired-franchise-possible-new-trilogy-1202707063/ |access-date=August 30, 2019 |archive-date=August 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831031105/https://deadline.com/2019/08/terminator-dark-fate-james-cameron-on-re-wired-franchise-possible-new-trilogy-1202707063/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Christopher Nolan]] described it as "an incredibly palpable mainstream phenomenon that made people think, Hey, what if this isn't real?"<ref>{{cite news |last=Itzkoff |first=Dave |date=June 30, 2010 |title=A Man and His Dream: Christopher Nolan and 'Inception' |url=https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/a-man-and-his-dream-christopher-nolan-and-inception/ |work=[[The New York Times]] |url-access=subscription |access-date=August 30, 2019 |archive-date=March 24, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324170554/http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/a-man-and-his-dream-christopher-nolan-and-inception/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Accolades ==
{{anchor|Awards}}
{{Main|List of accolades received by the Matrix franchise}}
''The Matrix'' received [[Academy Awards]] for [[Academy Award for Best Film Editing|Best Film Editing]], Best Sound Editing, [[Academy Award for Best Visual Effects|Best Visual Effects]] and [[Academy Award for Best Sound|Best Sound]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Rinaldi |first=Ray Mark |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch-crystal-has-a-si/124979015/ |title=Crystal has a sixth sense about keeping overhyped, drawn-out Oscar broadcast lively |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230519205244/https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch-crystal-has-a-si/124979015/ |date=March 27, 2000 |access-date=May 19, 2023 |archive-date=May 19, 2023 |page=27 |work=Off the Post-Dispatch |publisher=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url-status=live}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/entertainment/2000/oscars_2000/691746.stm |title=Oscar winners in full |date=March 27, 2000 |publisher=BBC |access-date=March 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329024535/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/entertainment/2000/oscars_2000/691746.stm|archive-date=March 29, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> The filmmakers were competing against other films with established franchises, like ''[[Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace]]'', yet they won all four of their nominations.<ref name="Oscars2000">{{cite web |title=The 72nd Academy Awards (2000) Nominees and Winners |url=http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/72nd-winners.html |access-date=November 19, 2011 |website=oscars.org |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006111921/http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/72nd-winners.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="oscars2">{{cite web |title=The Wachowski Brothers biography |url=https://www.tribute.ca/people/the-wachowski-brothers/10799/ |access-date=December 31, 2006 |website=[[Tribute (magazine)|Tribute]] |publisher=Tribute Entertainment Media Group |archive-date=June 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200616025239/https://www.tribute.ca/people/the-wachowski-brothers/10799/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''The Matrix'' also received [[BAFTA]] awards for [[BAFTA Award for Best Sound|Best Sound]] and [[BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects|Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects]], in addition to nominations in the [[BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography|cinematography]], [[BAFTA Award for Best Production Design|production design]] and [[BAFTA Award for Best Editing|editing]] categories.<ref name="baftas">{{cite web |title=BAFTA Film Winners 1990–1999 |url=http://www.bafta.org/site/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/import/Film_Winners_1990-1999.pdf |access-date=December 31, 2006 | publisher=British Academy of Film and Television Arts | website=bafta.org |archive-date=February 2, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202074453/http://www.bafta.org/site/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/import/Film_Winners_1990-1999.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1999, it won [[Saturn Awards]] for [[Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film|Best Science Fiction Film]] and [[Saturn Award for Best Director|Best Direction]].<ref name="Saturn Award">{{cite web |title=Saturn Awards |url=http://www.saturnawards.org/past.html#film |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209012608/http://www.saturnawards.org/past.html#film |archive-date=February 9, 2010 |access-date=December 31, 2006 |publisher=SaturnAwards.org }}</ref> In February 2022, the film was named one of the five finalists for Oscars Cheer Moment as part of the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]' "[[Oscars Fan Favorite]]" contest, for the "bullet time" scene, finishing in fifth place.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oscarsfanfavorite.com/cheer |title=Oscars Fan Favorite |publisher=Oscars Fan Favorite |date= |accessdate=February 26, 2022 |archive-date=February 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220225214941/https://www.oscarsfanfavorite.com/cheer |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbr.com/zack-snyders-justice-league-oscars-cheer-moment-winner/ |title=Zack Snyder's Justice League Tops 'Oscars Cheer Moment' List |publisher=CBR |date=March 28, 2022 |accessdate=March 28, 2022 |archive-date=April 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401193531/https://www.cbr.com/zack-snyders-justice-league-oscars-cheer-moment-winner/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Awards and nominations ===
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto;"
|-
! Award !! Category !! Name !! Outcome
|-
| rowspan="4"| [[72nd Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]
|| [[Academy Award for Best Film Editing|Best Film Editing]] || [[Zach Staenberg]] || {{Won}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Sound|Best Sound]] || [[John T. Reitz|John Reitz]], [[Gregg Rudloff]], [[David E. Campbell (sound engineer)|David Campbell]], [[David Lee (Australian sound engineer)|David Lee]] || {{Won}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Sound|Best Sound Effects Editing]]|| [[Dane A. Davis]] || {{Won}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Visual Effects|Best Visual Effects]] || [[John Gaeta]], [[Janek Sirrs]], [[Steve Courtley]], [[Jon Thum]] || {{Won}}
|-
| rowspan="5"| [[53rd British Academy Film Awards|British Academy Film Awards]]
|| [[BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]] || [[Bill Pope]] || {{Nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Editing|Best Editing]] || Zach Staenberg || {{Nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Production Design|Best Production Design]] || [[Owen Paterson (production designer)|Owen Paterson]] || {{Nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Sound|Best Sound]] || David Lee, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, David Campbell, Dane A. Davis || {{Won}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects|Best Special Visual Effects]] || John Gaeta, Steve Courtley, Janek Sirrs, Jon Thum || {{Won}}

|-
| rowspan=9| [[26th Saturn Awards|Saturn Awards]]
| [[Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film|Best Science Fiction Film]]
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| {{Won}}
|-
| [[Saturn Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| rowspan=2| [[The Wachowskis]]{{efn|name=Credited|}}
| {{Won}}
|-
| [[Saturn Award for Best Writing|Best Writer]]
| {{Nom}}
|-
| [[Saturn Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]
| [[Keanu Reeves]]
| {{Nom}}
|-
| [[Saturn Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]
| [[Carrie-Anne Moss]]
| {{Nom}}
|-
| [[Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]]
| [[Laurence Fishburne]]
| {{Nom}}
|-
| [[Saturn Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costumes]]
| [[Kym Barrett]]
| {{Nom}}
|-
| [[Saturn Award for Best Make-up|Best Make-up]]
| [[Nikki Gooley]], [[Bob McCarron]], Wendy Sainsbury
| {{Nom}}
|-
| [[Saturn Award for Best Special Effects|Best Special Effects]]
| John Gaeta, Janek Sirrs, Steve Courtley, Jon Thum
| {{Nom}}
|}

== Thematic analysis ==
{{Quote box
|quote=''The Matrix'' is arguably the ultimate [[cyberpunk]] artifact.
|source=—[[William Gibson]]<ref name="williamgibson">{{cite web |last=Gibson, William |author-link=William Gibson |date=January 28, 2003 |title=The Matrix: Fair Cop |url=http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/archive/2003_01_28_archive.asp#90244012 |access-date=August 13, 2012 |website=williamgibsonbooks.com|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120530071034/https://williamgibsonbooks.com/archive/2003_01_28_archive.asp#90244012|archive-date=May 30, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|width=33%
|align=right
}}

{{See also|The Matrix (franchise)#Influences and interpretations|The Wachowskis#Personal lives}}

''The Matrix'' draws from and alludes to numerous cinematic and literary works, and concepts from mythology, religion and philosophy, including the ideas of [[Buddhism]], [[Christianity]], [[Gnosticism]], [[Hinduism]] and [[Judaism]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stucky |first=Mark |date=October 2005 |title=He is the One: The Matrix Trilogy's Postmodern Movie Messiah |url=https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1654&context=jrf |journal=The Journal of Religion and Film |volume=9 |issue=2 |access-date=February 21, 2018 |archive-date=November 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124162223/https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1654&context=jrf |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Film and television ===
The pods in which the machines keep humans have been compared to images in ''[[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]'', and the work of [[M. C. Escher]].<ref name="Luddism">{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Steven Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YwPP4pGRAwgC |title=Against Technology. From the Luddites to Neo-Luddism |publisher=CRC Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-415-97868-2 |page=131 |chapter=Simulacra in ''the Matrix'' |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YwPP4pGRAwgC&q=%22The+Matrix%22+Metropolis+%22M.+C.+Escher%22&pg=PA131}}</ref> A resemblance to the eerie worlds of Swiss artist [[H. R. Giger]] was also recognized.<ref>{{Cite news |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |title=We Are All Living in H.R. Giger's Nightmare|last=Calia|first=Michael |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/05/13/we-are-all-living-in-h-r-gigers-cinematic-nightmare/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=December 23, 2021|archive-date=September 11, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911072442/http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/05/13/we-are-all-living-in-h-r-gigers-cinematic-nightmare/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=The Pop Mythologist |title=Of sex, death and biomachinery: H. R. Giger's legacy in pop culture |date=May 14, 2014 |url=https://www.popmythology.com/of-sex-death-and-biomachinery-h-r-gigers-legacy-in-pop-culture/ |access-date=December 23, 2021 |archive-date=December 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211223213333/https://www.popmythology.com/of-sex-death-and-biomachinery-h-r-gigers-legacy-in-pop-culture/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The pods can be seen in ''[[Welcome to Paradox]]'' Episode 4 "News from D Street" from a 1986 short story<ref>{{cite web |title=Title: The News from D Street |url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?42568 |access-date=July 14, 2019 |website=isfdb.org |archive-date=December 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191220123257/http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?42568 |url-status=live }}</ref> of the same name by [[Andrew Weiner (writer)|Andrew Weiner]] which aired on September 7, 1998, on the [[Syfy (TV channel)|SYFY Channel]] and has a remarkably similar concept. In this episode the hero is unaware he is living in virtual reality until he is told so by "the code man" who created the simulation and enters it knowingly. The Wachowskis have described [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' as a formative cinematic influence, and as a major inspiration on the visual style they aimed for when making ''The Matrix''.<ref name="ebert-wachowskis">{{Cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |title=The Wachowskis: From "2001" to "The Godfather" to "The Matrix"|date=October 2, 2008|website=[[RogerEbert.com]] |publisher=Ebert Digital LLC|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/the-wachowskis-from-2001-to-the-godfather-to-the-matrix |access-date=September 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306111600/https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/the-wachowskis-from-2001-to-the-godfather-to-the-matrix|archive-date=March 6, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Hemon |first=Aleksandar |title=Beyond the Matrix |url=https://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/09/10/120910fa_fact_hemon |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=September 3, 2012 |access-date=September 4, 2012 |archive-date=July 7, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140707153526/http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/09/10/120910fa_fact_hemon |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Kubrick">{{Cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger|author-link=Roger Ebert |date=September 9, 2012 |title=Toronto #3: "Cloud Atlas" and a new silent film |website=[[RogerEbert.com]]|publisher=Ebert Digital LLC|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/toronto-3-cloud-atlas-and-a-new-silent-film |url-status=live |access-date=September 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125214746/https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/toronto-3-cloud-atlas-and-a-new-silent-film |archive-date=January 25, 2021 }}</ref> Reviewers have also commented on similarities between ''The Matrix'' and other late-1990s films such as ''[[Strange Days (film)|Strange Days]]'', ''[[Dark City (1998 film)|Dark City]]'' and ''[[The Truman Show]]''.{{efn|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name="rogerebert">{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=March 31, 1999 |title=The Matrix |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-matrix-1999 |access-date=September 17, 2012 |website=RogerEbert.com |quote="The Matrix" recycles the premises of "Dark City" and "Strange Days,"... |archive-date=August 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816064423/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-matrix-1999 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=August 17, 2015 |title=''Dark City vs The Matrix'' |url=http://www.retrojunk.com/article/show/214/dark-city-vs-the-matrix |access-date=September 18, 2015 |publisher=RetroJunk |archive-date=September 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925092434/http://www.retrojunk.com/article/show/214/dark-city-vs-the-matrix |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Tyridal |first=Simon |date=January 28, 2005 |title=''Matrix City: A Photographic Comparison of The Matrix and Dark City'' |url=http://www.electrolund.com/2004/10/matrix-city-a-photographic-comparison-of-the-matrix-and-dark-city/ |access-date=September 18, 2015 |publisher=ElectroLund |archive-date=September 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925103041/http://www.electrolund.com/2004/10/matrix-city-a-photographic-comparison-of-the-matrix-and-dark-city/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="channel4review">{{cite web |title=The Matrix (1999) – Film Review from FilmFour |url=http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=105863 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525142638/http://www.film4.com/reviews/1999/the-matrix |archive-date=May 25, 2010 |access-date=September 17, 2012 |website=[[Film4]] |publisher=[[Channel Four Television Corporation]] |quote=The film is a perfect product of its time. It is a very modern conspiracy thriller, a film based, like The Truman Show, on the appealingly terrifying notion of a universal conspiracy – that life itself and everything that we know and take for granted are lies. It's also a film steeped in the traditionals of Japanese anime and megamixed philosophy and semiotics (spot the Baudrillard references kids).}}</ref><ref name="rowley review">{{cite web |last=Rowley, Stephen |date=June 18, 2003 |title=What Was the Matrix? |url=http://www.sterow.com/?p=229 |access-date=January 9, 2012 |website=sterow.com |quote=The Matrix was the third in a cycle of movies to arrive in the late nineties with a strikingly similar theme. Like its predecessors from the previous year, Dark City and The Truman Show, it tells the story of a seemingly ordinary man who suddenly finds that his whole life is faked: he is trapped in an artificially created environment designed to keep him in submission. Like the heroes of those earlier movies, Keanu Reeves' Neo starts to realise that he is somehow special, and tries to escape the confines of his prison. |archive-date=January 20, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120004250/http://www.sterow.com/?p=229 |url-status=live }}</ref>}} The similarity of the film's central concept to a device in the long-running series ''[[Doctor Who]]'' has also been noted. As in the film, the [[Matrix (Doctor Who)|Matrix]] of that series (introduced in the 1976 serial ''[[The Deadly Assassin]]'') is a massive computer system which one enters using a device connecting to the head, allowing users to see representations of the real world and change its laws of physics; but if killed there, they will die in reality.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Condon |first=Paul |title=The Matrix Unlocked |date=July 26, 2003 |publisher=[[Contender Books]] |location=London |isbn=978-1-84357-093-6 |pages=141–3}}</ref> The action scenes of ''The Matrix'' were also strongly influenced by live-action films such as those of director [[John Woo]].<ref name="Wired PK Dick"/> The martial arts sequences were inspired by ''[[Fist of Legend]]'', a critically acclaimed 1995 martial arts film starring [[Jet Li]]. The fight scenes in ''Fist of Legend'' led to the hiring of Yuen as fight choreographer.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fist of Legend |work=Bear Warrior International Martial Arts Training |url=http://www.bigbearacademy.com/fist-of-legend.html |access-date=December 13, 2012 |publisher=Bigbearacademy.com |archive-date=March 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329150626/https://www.bigbearacademy.com/fist-of-legend.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Colman |first=Dan |date=October 7, 2011 |title=The Matrix: What Went Into The Mix |url=http://www.openculture.com/2011/10/the_matrix_what_went_into_the_mix.html |access-date=December 13, 2012 |publisher=Open Culture |archive-date=December 18, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218213249/http://www.openculture.com/2011/10/the_matrix_what_went_into_the_mix.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Wachowskis' approach to action scenes drew upon their admiration for [[anime|Japanese animation]] such as ''[[Ninja Scroll]]'' and ''[[Akira (1988 film)|Akira]]''.<ref name="Wachowski transcript">{{cite web |date=November 6, 1999 |title=Matrix Virtual Theatre |url=http://www.warnervideo.com/matrixevents/wachowski.html |access-date=November 29, 2012 |website=Warnervideo.com |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]]|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006041445/http://www.warnervideo.com/matrixevents/wachowski.html|archive-date=October 6, 2012|url-status=dead|at=Interview with the Wachowski Brothers |quote=We liked Ghost in the Shell and the Ninja Scroll and Akira in anime. One thing that they do that we tried to bring to our film was a juxtaposition of time and space in action beats.}}</ref> Director [[Mamoru Oshii]]'s 1995 animated film ''[[Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)|Ghost in the Shell]]'' was a particularly strong influence;<ref name="Wachowski transcript"/> producer [[Joel Silver]] has stated that the Wachowskis first described their intentions for ''The Matrix'' by showing him that anime and saying, "We wanna do that for real".<ref name="silver-anime-1">{{Cite AV media |title=The Animatrix |date=June 3, 2003 |last=Jones Andrew; Morimoto, Kôji; Maeda, Mahiro; Chung, Peter; Watanabe, Shinichirô |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |at=Scrolls to Screen: A Brief History of Anime featurette |medium=DVD}}</ref><ref name="silver-anime-2">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/ |title=The Matrix |date=September 21, 1999 |last=Wachowski, Larry (Director); Wachowski, Andy (Director) |publisher=[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] |place=United States |at=Making The Matrix featurette |medium=DVD |access-date=July 21, 2018 |archive-date=June 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604170709/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Mitsuhisa Ishikawa]] of [[Production I.G]], which produced ''Ghost in the Shell'', noted that the anime's high-quality visuals were a strong source of inspiration for the Wachowskis. He also commented, "...{{nbsp}}cyberpunk films are very difficult to describe to a third person. I'd imagine that ''The Matrix'' is the kind of film that was very difficult to draw up a written proposal for to take to film studios". He stated that since ''Ghost in the Shell'' had gained recognition in America, the Wachowskis used it as a "promotional tool".<ref name="south bank show">{{Cite episode |title=Manga Mania |series=[[The South Bank Show]] |network=[[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] |airdate=February 19, 2006}}</ref>

=== Literary works ===
The film makes several references to [[Lewis Carroll]]'s ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]''.<ref name="Salon review"/> Comparisons have also been made to [[Grant Morrison]]'s comic series ''[[The Invisibles]]'', with Morrison describing it in 2011 as "(it) seemed to me (to be) my own combination of ideas enacted on the screen".<ref name="supergods">{{Cite book |last=Morrison |first=Grant |title=Supergods: Our World in the Age of the Superhero |publisher=[[Random House]]/[[Jonathan Cape]] |year=2011 |location=London |page=315 |quote=I was taken to see ''The Matrix'' ... and saw what seemed to me my own combination of ideas enacted on the screen: fetish clothes, bald heads, kung fu, and magic, witnessing the Gnostic invasion of the Hollywood mainstream. |author-link=Grant Morrison}}</ref> Comparisons have also been made between ''The Matrix'' and the books of [[Carlos Castaneda]].<ref>{{cite web |date=December 4, 2006 |title=Matrix and Carlos Castaneda |url=http://www.consciencia.org/castaneda/castaneda-matrix.html |access-date=January 29, 2012 |publisher=Consciencia.org |archive-date=January 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118092655/http://www.consciencia.org/castaneda/castaneda-matrix.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

''The Matrix'' belongs to the [[cyberpunk]] genre of science fiction, and draws from earlier works in the genre such as the 1984 novel ''[[Neuromancer]]'' by [[William Gibson]].<ref name="williamgibson"/> For example, the film's use of the term "Matrix" is adopted from Gibson's novel,<ref name="Neuromancer Natali interview">{{cite web |last=Leiren-Young, Mark |date=January 6, 2012 |title=Is William Gibson's 'Neuromancer' the Future of Movies? |url=https://thetyee.ca/ArtsAndCulture/2012/01/06/Neuromancer-Movie/ |access-date=January 16, 2012 |website=[[The Tyee]] |quote=One of the obstacles in the selling of this movie to the industry at large is that everyone says, 'Oh, well, ''The Matrix'' did it already.' Because ''The Matrix'' – the very word 'matrix' – is taken from ''Neuromancer'', they stole that word, I can't use it in our movie. |archive-date=December 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221140035/https://thetyee.ca/ArtsAndCulture/2012/01/06/Neuromancer-Movie/ |url-status=live }}</ref> though [[L. P. Davies]] had already used the term "Matrix" fifteen years earlier for a similar concept in his 1969 novel ''[[The White Room (novel)|The White Room]]'' ("It had been tried in the States some years earlier, but their 'matrix' as they called it hadn't been strong enough to hold the fictional character in place").<ref>L. P. Davies. ''The White Room.'' Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, 1969. Page 168.</ref> After watching ''The Matrix'', Gibson commented that the way that the film's creators had drawn from existing cyberpunk works was "exactly the kind of creative cultural osmosis" he had relied upon in his own writing;<ref name="williamgibson"/> however, he noted that the film's [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] themes distinguished it from ''Neuromancer'', and believed that ''The Matrix'' was thematically closer to the work of science fiction author [[Philip K. Dick]], particularly Dick's speculative ''Exegesis''.<ref name="williamgibson"/> Other writers have also commented on the similarities between ''The Matrix'' and Dick's work;<ref name="Wired PK Dick">{{Cite magazine |last=Rose |first=Frank |date=December 2003 |title=The Second Coming of Philip K. Dick |url=https://www.wired.com/2003/12/philip/ |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |access-date=December 4, 2012 |quote=His influence is pervasive in The Matrix and its sequels, which present the world we know as nothing more than an information grid; Dick articulated the concept in a 1977 speech in which he posited the existence of multiple realities overlapping the "matrix world" that most of us experience. ... They probably don't realize that the Matrixseries [sic] contains almost as many references to Woo as to Dick. (Fluttering pigeons heralding a fight, a shooter with two guns blazing – pure Woo.) |archive-date=June 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200626105115/https://www.wired.com/2003/12/philip/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Zenko |first=Darren |date=April 29, 2007 |title=Not another Philip K. Dick movie |work=The Toronto Star |url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/208471 |access-date=May 25, 2010 |archive-date=April 17, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080417074054/http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/208471 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Axmaker |first=Sean |date=June 25, 2002 |title=Philip K. Dick's dark dreams still fodder for films |work=Seattle Post Intelligencer |url=http://www.seattlepi.com/movies/76011_dick26.shtml |quote=Even the seeds of his concepts, however, sprout resonant ideas that the biggest special effects can't destroy, and they have pollinated the creative ground of many other films, from the moral quandaries posed by technology in "The 6th Day" to the paranoia and sanity-threatening conspiracies of "The Truman Show" and "The Matrix." |access-date=February 14, 2011 |archive-date=March 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200318170241/https://www.seattlepi.com/ae/movies/article/Philip-K-Dick-s-dark-dreams-still-fodder-for-1089996.php |url-status=live }}</ref> one example of such influence is a Philip K. Dick's 1977 conference, in which he stated: "We are living in a computer-programmed reality, and the only clue we have to it is when some variable is changed, and some alteration in our reality occurs".{{efn|Attributed to multiple references:<ref>{{cite web |last=South Berkshire Research Institute |date=August 23, 2015 |title=Author Philip K. Dick – "We are living in a computer-programmed reality{{nbsp}}..." |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q01Om0r1ZPY |access-date=March 15, 2017 |via=YouTube |archive-date=October 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003061314/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q01Om0r1ZPY |url-status=dead }}{{Dead link|date=December 2023|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=theduderinok2 |date=June 26, 2010 |title=Did Philip K. Dick disclose the real Matrix in 1977? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXeVgEs4sOo | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111022200040/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXeVgEs4sOo&gl=US&hl=en| archive-date=October 22, 2011 | url-status=dead|access-date=March 15, 2017 |via=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Philip K. Dick Theorizes The Matrix in 1977, Declares That We Live in "A Computer-Programmed Reality" |url=http://www.openculture.com/2014/02/philip-k-dick-theorizes-the-matrix-in-1977-declares-that-we-live-in-a-computer-programmed-reality.html |access-date=March 15, 2017 |website=openculture.com |archive-date=March 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315013334/http://www.openculture.com/2014/02/philip-k-dick-theorizes-the-matrix-in-1977-declares-that-we-live-in-a-computer-programmed-reality.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Wagner |first=David |title=Building A Digital Worm Is Harder (And More Important) Than You Might Think |url=http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/feb/11/building-a-digital-worm-is-harder-than-you-think/ |access-date=March 15, 2017 |website=kpbs.org |date=February 11, 2014 |archive-date=March 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314171745/http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/feb/11/building-a-digital-worm-is-harder-than-you-think/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

=== Philosophy ===
In ''The Matrix'', a copy of [[Jean Baudrillard]]'s philosophical work ''[[Simulacra and Simulation]]'', which was published in French in 1981, is visible on-screen as [[Concealing objects in a book|"the book used to conceal]] disks",<ref name="Jamie Allen">{{cite web |last=Allen |first=Jamie |date=November 28, 2012 |title=The Matrix and Postmodernism |url=https://prezi.com/ybxwvr21r9lz/the-matrix-and-postmodernism/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221063150/https://prezi.com/ybxwvr21r9lz/the-matrix-and-postmodernism/ |archive-date=December 21, 2019 |access-date=April 15, 2019 |website=Prezi.com}}</ref><ref name="Simulacra"/> and Morpheus quotes the phrase "desert of the real" from it.<ref name="Poole Baudrillard">{{cite web |last=Poole |first=Steven |date=March 7, 2007 |title=Obituary: Jean Baudrillard |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/mar/07/guardianobituaries.france |access-date=November 15, 2012 |website=Guardian.co.uk |publisher=[[Guardian Media Group]] |archive-date=May 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511020223/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/mar/07/guardianobituaries.france |url-status=live }} The term "desert of the real" first originated from [[Jorge Luis Borges]]' short story "[[On Exactitude in Science]]" (1946), which Baudrillard references in his essay.</ref> "The book was required reading"<ref name="Jamie Allen"/> for the actors prior to filming.<ref name="Simulacra"/><ref>{{cite web |last=Jobs |first=Post |date=March 14, 2007 |title=Remember Baudrillard |url=http://www.insidehighered.com/views/mclemee/mclemee135 |access-date=January 29, 2012 |website=Inside Higher Ed |archive-date=February 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200211225117/https://www.insidehighered.com/views/mclemee/mclemee135 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, Baudrillard himself said that ''The Matrix'' misunderstands and distorts his work.<ref name="Poole Baudrillard"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Le Nouvel Observateur with Baudrillard |url=http://www.empyree.org/divers/Matrix-Baudrillard_english.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080113012028/http://www.empyree.org/divers/Matrix-Baudrillard_english.html |archive-date=January 13, 2008 |access-date=January 31, 2010 |website=Le Nouvel Observateur}}</ref> Some interpreters of ''The Matrix'' mention Baudrillard's philosophy to support their claim "that the [film] is an [[allegory]] for contemporary experience in a heavily commercialized, media-driven society, especially in developed countries".<ref name="Jamie Allen"/> The influence of ''[[The Matrixial Gaze]]'', the philosophical-psychoanalytical concept of [[Bracha L. Ettinger]] on the archaic matrixial space that resists the field of simulacra,<ref>Ettinger, Bracha Lichtenberg, The Matrixial Gaze, Leeds University 1995.</ref><ref>Ettinger, Bracha L., The Matrixial Borderspace. [Selected Essays from 1994-1999). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006.</ref><ref>Ettinger, Bracha L., Matrixial Subjectivity, Aesthetics, Ethics. Vol I : 1990-2000. Edited with Introductions by Griselda Pollock. Pelgrave Macmillan, 2020.</ref> "was brought to the public's attention through the writings of art historians such as [[Griselda Pollock]] and film theorists such as Heinz-Peter Schwerfel".<ref>Schwerfel, Heinz-Peter, Kino und Kunst. Koln: Dumont, 2003.</ref><ref name="Jamie Allen"/> In addition to Baudrillard and Ettinger, the Wachowskis were also significantly influenced by [[Kevin Kelly (editor)|Kevin Kelly]]'s ''[[Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World]]'', and [[Dylan Evans]]'s ideas on [[evolutionary psychology]].<ref name="Screenplay"/>

Philosopher [[William Irwin (philosopher)|William Irwin]] suggests that the idea of the "Matrix" – a generated reality invented by malicious machines – is an allusion to [[Descartes]]' "[[First Meditation]]", and his idea of an [[evil demon]]. The Meditation hypothesizes that the perceived world might be a comprehensive illusion created to deceive us.<ref name="Salon philosophy">{{cite web |last=Miller, Laura |date=December 5, 2002 |title="The Matrix and Philosophy" by William Irwin, ed. |url=http://www.salon.com/2002/12/05/matrix_2/ |access-date=November 15, 2012 |website=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] |archive-date=March 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200328194611/https://www.salon.com/2002/12/05/matrix_2/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The same premise can be found in [[Hilary Putnam]]'s [[brain in a vat]] scenario proposed in the 1980s.<ref name="Salon philosophy"/> A connection between the premise of ''The Matrix'' and [[Plato]]'s [[Allegory of the Cave]] has also been suggested. The allegory is related to Plato's [[theory of Forms]], which holds that the true essence of an object is not what we perceive with our senses, but rather its quality, and that most people perceive only the shadow of the object and are thus limited to false perception.<ref name="Influence Screened"/>

The philosophy of [[Immanuel Kant]] has also been claimed as another influence on the film, and in particular how individuals within the Matrix interact with one another and with the system. Kant states in his ''[[Critique of Pure Reason]]'' that people come to know and explore our world through synthetic means (language, etc.), and thus this makes it rather difficult to discern truth from falsely perceived views. This means people are their own agents of deceit, and so in order for them to know truth, they must choose to openly pursue truth. This idea can be examined in Agent Smith's monologue about the first version of the Matrix, which was designed as a human [[utopia]], a perfect world without suffering and with total happiness. Agent Smith explains that, "it was a disaster. No one accepted the program. Entire crops [of people] were lost." The machines had to amend their choice of programming in order to make people subservient to them, and so they conceived the Matrix in the image of the world in 1999. The world in 1999 was far from a utopia, but still humans accepted this over the suffering-less utopia. According to William Irwin this is Kantian, because the machines wished to impose a perfect world on humans in an attempt to keep people content, so that they would remain completely submissive to the machines, both consciously and subconsciously, but humans were not easy to make content.<ref>Irwin, William. "We Are (the) One!" ''The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real''. Chicago: Open Court, 2002. 138–54. Print.</ref>

=== Religion and mythology ===
Andrew Godoski sees allusions to [[Christ]], including Neo's "[[Miraculous births|virgin birth]]", his doubt in himself, the prophecy of his coming, along with many other [[Christianity|Christian]] references.<ref name="Influence Screened"/> Amongst these possible allusions, it is suggested that the name of the character [[Trinity (The Matrix)|Trinity]] refers to Christianity's doctrine of the [[Trinity]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Babenko |first=Yelyzaveta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XPY--YwYmMgC |title=Analysis of the film "The Matrix" |publisher=GRIN Verlag |year=2011 |isbn=978-3-640-91285-8 |location=Munich |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=XPY--YwYmMgC&pg=PA6&dq=%22In+Christian+Theology+there+are+three+entities+forming+a+single+God:+Father,+Son+and+Holy+Spirit,+this+is+The+trinity+of+God%22 6]}}</ref> It has also been noted that the character Morpheus paraphrases the Chinese [[Taoist]] philosopher [[Zhuang Zhou|Zhuangzi]] when he asks Neo, "Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference from the real world and the dream world?"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Toropov |first=Brandon |url=https://archive.org/details/completeidiotsgu00toro_1/page/241 |title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Taoism |publisher=The Penguin Group |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-02-864262-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/completeidiotsgu00toro_1/page/241 241] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

[[Matrixism]] is a fan-based possibly satirical religion created as "the matrix religion".{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}

=== Transgender themes ===
Years after the release of ''The Matrix'', both of the Wachowskis came out as [[transgender]] [[trans woman|women]].<ref name="TransMasterpiece">{{cite web |last=Pitre |first=Jake |date=March 27, 2019 |title=How ''The Matrix'' Has Gone from Men's Rights Dream to Formative Trans Masterpiece |url=https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/how-the-matrix-has-gone-from-mens-rights-dream-to-formative-trans-masterpiece |access-date=April 1, 2019 |website=SyFy Wire |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401102609/https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/how-the-matrix-has-gone-from-mens-rights-dream-to-formative-trans-masterpiece |url-status=live }}</ref> The red pill has been likened to red [[estrogen]] pills.<ref name="Vulture">{{cite web |last=Chu |first=Andrea Long |date=February 7, 2019 |title=What We Can Learn About Gender From ''The Matrix'' |url=https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/what-the-matrix-can-teach-us-about-gender.html |access-date=April 1, 2019 |website=vulture.com |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401072332/https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/what-the-matrix-can-teach-us-about-gender.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Morpheus's description of the Matrix creating a sense that something is fundamentally wrong, "like a splinter in your mind", has been likened to [[gender dysphoria]].<ref name="Vulture"/> In the original script, Switch was a woman in the Matrix and a man in the real world, but this idea was removed.<ref>{{cite web |last=Guida |first=Matthew |date=January 7, 2018 |title=The Matrix: 15 Dark Behind-The-Scenes Secrets |url=https://screenrant.com/matrix-dark-behind-the-scenes-secrets/ |access-date=April 1, 2019 |website=ScreenRant |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401072333/https://screenrant.com/matrix-dark-behind-the-scenes-secrets/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In a 2016 [[GLAAD Media Award]]s speech, Lilly Wachowski said: "There's a critical eye being cast back on Lana and I's {{sic}} work through the lens of our transness. This is a cool thing because it's an excellent reminder that art is never static."<ref>{{cite web |last=Lachenal |title=lilly wachowski encourages viewers to reconsider 'the matrix' through the lens of transness |date=April 4, 2016 |url=https://i-d.co/article/lilly-wachowski-encourages-viewers-to-reconsider-the-matrix-through-the-lens-of-transness/ |access-date=May 28, 2019 |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401072355/https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/43vmvp/lilly-wachowski-encourages-viewers-to-reconsider-the-matrix-through-the-lens-of-transness |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2020, Lilly said ''The Matrix'' was intended as an allegory for gender transition, but that "the corporate world wasn't ready".<ref name="trans-metaphor"/> She said it was "all about the desire for transformation but it was all coming from a closeted point of view", but that she did not know "how present my transness was in the background of my brain" when the Wachowskis were writing it.<ref name="trans-metaphor">{{Cite news |date=August 7, 2020 |title=The Matrix is a 'trans metaphor', Lilly Wachowski says |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-53692435 |access-date=November 25, 2020 |archive-date=February 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203075310/https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-53692435 |url-status=live }}</ref> In an interview with ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' in 2020, Reeves said the idea that the Matrix was an allegory for transgender identity "wasn't introduced to me when we started for production on the films."<ref name="reeves' awareness">{{Cite news |date=August 26, 2020 |title=Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter on How the Beatles Secretly Helped 'Bill & Ted Face the Music' (Watch) |language=en-GB |work=Variety |url=https://variety.com/2020/film/podcasts/keanu-reeves-alex-winter-bill-ted-face-the-music-1234748438/ |access-date=August 5, 2020 |archive-date=August 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200826175728/https://variety.com/2020/film/podcasts/keanu-reeves-alex-winter-bill-ted-face-the-music-1234748438/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Legacy ==

=== Filmmaking ===
Following ''The Matrix'', films made abundant use of slow motion, spinning cameras, and, often, the [[bullet time]] effect of a character freezing or slowing down and the camera dollying around them.<ref name="Lane City of God">{{Cite magazine |last=Lane |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony Lane |date=January 20, 2003 |title=The Current Cinema: Trouble in the Streets |url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/01/20/030120crci_cinema |access-date=December 4, 2012|magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |quote=What I think of as the "Matrix" shot, a lone figure frozen while the camera circles around him, has travelled quickly from novelty to cliché, but Meirelles just about keeps it alive by using it to track the passage of time.|archive-date=December 12, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212135218/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/01/20/030120crci_cinema |url-status=live }}</ref> The ability to slow down time enough to distinguish the motion of bullets was used as a central gameplay mechanic of several video games, including ''[[Max Payne (video game)|Max Payne]]'', in which the feature was explicitly referred to as "bullet time".<ref name="Influence BBC"/><ref>{{Cite book |title=Max Payne: Official Police Dossier (game manual) |year=2001 |series=PC CD ROM version |page=19 |chapter=The Game World: Bullet Time |quote=When pressed into a tight spot, Max can activate Bullet Time, which will slow the action around him, while allowing him to aim his weapons in real-time. This ... even allows Max to dodge oncoming bullets.}}</ref><!-- although the game went into production before the film was released.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} --> It was also the defining game mechanic of the game ''[[Superhot]]'' and its sequels. ''The Matrix''{{'}}s signature special effect, and other aspects of the film, have been [[parody|parodied]] numerous times,<ref name="Influence EW2"/> in comedy films such as ''[[Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo]]'' (1999),<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=May 26, 2000 |title=Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo |url=https://www.gamesradar.com/au/deuce-bigalow-male-gigolo-review/ |url-status=live |magazine=Total Film |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909233538/https://www.gamesradar.com/au/deuce-bigalow-male-gigolo-review/ |archive-date=September 9, 2021 |access-date=September 10, 2021 }}</ref> ''[[Scary Movie]]'' (2000),<ref>{{cite web |last=Dinning, Mark |date=January 2000 |title=Scary Movie |url=https://www.empireonline.com/reviews/ReviewComplete.asp?FID=6152 |access-date=December 26, 2012 |website=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire Online]] |publisher=[[Bauer Media Group|Bauer Consumer Media]] |archive-date=May 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526073857/http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/ReviewComplete.asp?FID=6152 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[Shrek]]'' (2001),<ref name="Influence BBC"/> ''[[Kung Pow! Enter the Fist]]'' (2002),<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Schwarzbaum |first=Lisa |date=January 30, 2002 |title=Kung Pow!: Enter the Fist |url=https://ew.com/article/2002/01/30/kung-pow-enter-fist/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218005415/https://ew.com/article/2002/01/30/kung-pow-enter-fist/ |archive-date=February 18, 2020 |access-date=September 10, 2021 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |publisher=Time Warner }}</ref> ''[[Lastikman (2003 film)|Lastikman]]'' (2003); ''[[Marx Reloaded]]'' in which the relationship between Neo and Morpheus is represented as an imaginary encounter between [[Karl Marx]] and [[Leon Trotsky]];<ref>{{cite web|last=Korsic|first=Nemanja|date=May 26, 2011|title=Marx Enters the Matrix|url=https://greekleftreview.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/marx-enters-the-matrix/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418182415/https://greekleftreview.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/marx-enters-the-matrix/|archive-date=April 18, 2015|access-date=September 10, 2021|website=Greek Left Project}}</ref> <!-- in animated TV series such as ''[[The Simpsons]]'',{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]''{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} and ''[[Family Guy]]'';{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} in the [[Original video animation|OVA]] series ''[[FLCL]]'';{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} --> and in video games such as ''[[Conker's Bad Fur Day]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Casamassina |first=Matt |date=March 2, 2001 |title=Conker's Bad Fur Day |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/03/03/conkers-bad-fur-day |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130222032943/http://www.ign.com/articles/2001/03/03/conkers-bad-fur-day |archive-date=February 22, 2013 |access-date=December 30, 2012 |website=[[IGN]] }}</ref> It also inspired films featuring a black-clad hero, a sexy yet deadly heroine, and bullets ripping slowly through the air;<ref name="Influence EW2"/> these included ''[[Charlie's Angels (2000 film)|Charlie's Angels]]'' (2000) featuring [[Cameron Diaz]] floating through the air while the cameras flo-mo around her; ''[[Equilibrium (film)|Equilibrium]]'' (2002), starring [[Christian Bale]], whose character wore long black leather coats like Reeves' Neo;<ref name="Influence BBC"/> ''[[Night Watch (2004 film)|Night Watch]]'' (2004), a [[Russia]]n megahit heavily influenced by ''The Matrix'' and directed by [[Timur Bekmambetov]], who later made ''[[Wanted (2008 film)|Wanted]]'' (2008), which also features bullets ripping through air; and ''[[Inception]]'' (2010), which centers on a team of sharply dressed rogues who are able to enter other people's dreams by "wiring in". The original ''[[Tron]]'' (1982) paved the way for ''The Matrix'', and ''The Matrix'', in turn, inspired [[Disney]] to make its own Matrix with a ''Tron'' sequel, ''[[Tron: Legacy]]'' (2010).<ref name="Influence EW">{{cite magazine |last=Vary |first=Adam |date=April 1, 2011 |title='The Matrix': A Groundbreaking Cyberthriller |url=https://ew.com/article/2011/04/01/matrix-groundbreaking-cyberthriller/ |access-date=June 7, 2020 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |archive-date=June 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607190138/https://ew.com/article/2011/04/01/matrix-groundbreaking-cyberthriller/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Also, the film's lobby shootout sequence was recreated in the 2002 Indian action comedy ''[[Awara Paagal Deewana]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=20 Years Of 'The Matrix': 5 Times Bollywood Got Inspired By It |date=March 31, 2019 |url=https://www.news18.com/news/movies/20-years-of-the-matrix-5-times-bollywood-got-inspired-by-it-2083183.html |website=[[News18]] |access-date=May 17, 2019 |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401134943/https://www.news18.com/news/movies/20-years-of-the-matrix-5-times-bollywood-got-inspired-by-it-2083183.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Choreographers and actors ===
''The Matrix'' had a strong effect on action filmmaking in Hollywood. The film's incorporation of [[wire fu]] techniques, including the involvement of [[fight choreography|fight choreographer]] [[Yuen Woo-ping]] and other personnel with a background in [[Hong Kong action cinema]], affected the approaches to fight scenes taken by some subsequent Hollywood action films,<ref name="xmen">{{Cite magazine |last=Jensen, Jeff |date=July 21, 2000 |title=Generating ''X'' |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |publisher=Time Warner |url=https://ew.com/article/2000/07/21/x-men-0/ |access-date=December 31, 2008 |quote=There was also debate over the style of the film's fight sequences, thanks to the new standard set by The Matrix, which hit while X-Men was in pre-production. Hence, the movie features some high-flying Matrix-y martial-arts choreography by Corey Yuen ([[Romeo Must Die]]). |archive-date=May 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150505040519/http://ew.com/article/2000/07/21/x-men-0 |url-status=live }}</ref> moving them towards more Eastern approaches.<ref name="Influence Screened"/> The success of ''The Matrix'' created high demand for those choreographers and their techniques from other filmmakers, who wanted fights of similar sophistication: for example, wire work was employed in ''[[X-Men (film)|X-Men]]'' (2000)<ref name="xmen"/> and ''[[Charlie's Angels (2000 film)|Charlie's Angels]]'' (2000),<ref name="Influence EW"/> and Yuen Woo-ping's brother [[Yuen Cheung-yan]] was choreographer on ''[[Daredevil (film)|Daredevil]]'' (2003).<ref>{{cite web|last=Reid|first=Craig|title=From Angels to Devils|url=https://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=364|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224024903/http://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=364|archive-date=February 24, 2020|access-date=September 10, 2021|website=[[Kung Fu Magazine]]|publisher=TC Media, Inc}}</ref> ''The Matrix''{{'}}s Asian approach to action scenes also created an audience for Asian action films such as ''[[Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon]]'' (2000) that they might not otherwise have had.<ref name="Influence BBC">{{Cite news |last=Dowling, Stephen |date=May 21, 2003 |title=Under The Matrix influence |work=BBC.co.uk |publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3028249.stm |access-date=December 22, 2012 |archive-date=March 30, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330103051/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3028249.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Chad Stahelski, who had been a stunt double on ''The Matrix'' prior to directing Reeves in the [[John Wick|''John Wick'' series]], acknowledged the film's strong influence on the ''Wick'' films,<ref>{{cite web |last=Vineyard |first=Jennifer |date=March 25, 2019 |title=The Matrix's stunt coordinators and choreographers reveal how the iconic fight scenes were made |url=https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/the-matrixs-stunt-coordinators-and-choreographers-reveal-how-the-iconic-fight-scenes-were |access-date=October 9, 2019 |website=[[Syfy Wire]] |archive-date=December 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222220829/https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/the-matrixs-stunt-coordinators-and-choreographers-reveal-how-the-iconic-fight-scenes-were |url-status=live }}</ref> and commented, "''The Matrix'' literally changed the industry. The influx of martial-arts choreographers and fight coordinators now make more, and are more prevalent and powerful in the industry, than stunt coordinators. ''The Matrix'' revolutionized that. Today, action movies want their big sequences designed around the fights."<ref>{{cite web |last=Ebiri |first=Bilge |date=February 4, 2019 |title=Neo's Stunt Guy Chad Stahelski on How The Matrix Changed Movie Action Forever |url=https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/neo-stunt-double-on-how-the-matrix-changed-action-forever.html |access-date=October 9, 2019 |website=[[New York (magazine)|Vulture]] |publisher=New York Media, LLC |archive-date=March 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210315122253/https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/neo-stunt-double-on-how-the-matrix-changed-action-forever.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Carrie-Anne Moss]] asserted that prior to being cast in ''The Matrix'', she had "no career". It launched Moss into international recognition and transformed her career; in a ''[[New York Daily News]]'' interview, she stated, "''The Matrix'' gave me so many opportunities. Everything I've done since then has been because of that experience. It gave me so much".<ref name="cany">{{cite web |date=June 8, 2007 |title=She's walked with a zombie |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/walked-zombie-article-1.220372 |access-date=June 11, 2018 |website=New York Daily News |archive-date=June 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140016/http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/walked-zombie-article-1.220372 |url-status=live }}</ref> The film also created one of the most devoted movie fan-followings since ''[[Star Wars]]''.<ref name="Influence EW2"/> The combined success of the ''Matrix'' trilogy, the [[The Lord of the Rings (film series)|''Lord of the Rings'' films]] and the [[Prequel trilogy|''Star Wars'' prequels]] made Hollywood interested in creating trilogies.<ref name="Influence Screened"/> Stephen Dowling from the [[BBC]] noted that ''The Matrix''{{'}}s success in taking complex philosophical ideas and presenting them in ways palatable for impressionable minds might be its most influential aspect.<ref name="Influence BBC"/>

=== Cultural impact ===
''The Matrix'' was also influential for its impact on [[superhero films]]. John Kenneth Muir in ''The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television'' called the film a "revolutionary" reimagination of movie visuals, paving the way for the visuals of later superhero films, and credits it with helping to "make [[comic-book]] [[superheroes]] hip" and effectively demonstrating the concept of "faster than a speeding bullet" with its bullet time effect.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Muir |first=John Kenneth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dx6hBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA26 |title=The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television, 2d ed. |date=2008 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |isbn=978-0-7864-3755-9 |page=26}}</ref> Adam Sternbergh of ''[[Vulture.com]]'' credits ''The Matrix'' with reinventing and setting the template for modern superhero blockbusters, and inspiring the superhero renaissance in the early 21st century.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sternbergh |first=Adam |date=February 4, 2019 |title=The Matrix Taught Superheroes to Fly: The Matrix laid the template for the gritty, gravity-defying, self-seriously cerebral modern blockbuster. |url=https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/the-matrix-laid-the-template-for-the-modern-blockbuster.html |access-date=May 27, 2020 |website=[[Vulture.com]] |publisher=[[Vox Media]] |language=en-us |archive-date=December 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191220094745/https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/the-matrix-laid-the-template-for-the-modern-blockbuster.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

One popular quote, "Guns. Lots of guns,"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Loveridge |first=Sam |date=2021-12-17 |title=These are the best Matrix quotes of all time |url=https://www.gamesradar.com/best-matrix-quotes/ |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=GamesRadar+ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Draven |first=Derek |date=2021-01-02 |title=The Matrix: Neo's 10 Coolest Quotes From The Entire Trilogy |url=https://screenrant.com/the-matrix-neo-coolest-quotes-every-movie-trilogy/ |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=ScreenRant |language=en}}</ref> spoken by Neo near the climax of the film, was incorporated into ''[[John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum]]'' as a line spoken by protagonist [[John Wick (character)|John Wick]], also played by Reeves.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sheridan |first=Connor |date=2019-03-21 |title=Watch the new John Wick 3 trailer and don't miss its Matrix Easter egg |url=https://www.gamesradar.com/john-wick-3-second-trailer-matrix-easter-egg-reference/ |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=GamesRadar+ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Leston |first=Ryan |date=2022-01-20 |title=The Matrix Easter Egg You Missed In John Wick: Chapter 3 |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/740211/the-matrix-easter-egg-you-missed-in-john-wick-chapter-3/ |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=SlashFilm |language=en-US}}</ref> The line was considered for use by screenwriters [[Patrick Casey (writer)|Patrick Casey]] and [[Josh Miller (filmmaker)|Josh Miller]] in the film ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (film)|Sonic the Hedgehog 3]]'', which starred Reeves as the voice of [[Shadow the Hedgehog]], but it was ultimately cut from that film's final script.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hermanns |first=Grant |date=2024-12-28 |title=Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Nearly Featured Iconic Keanu Reeves Reference With Shadow, Reveals Writer: "We Were Definitely Tempted" |url=https://screenrant.com/sonic-the-hedgehog-3-shadow-keanu-reeves-reference-cut/ |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=ScreenRant |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Reyes |first=Mike |date=2024-12-28 |title=Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Has A Couple Special Keanu Reeves References, But The Writers Shared With Me The One They Couldn’t Make Work |url=https://www.cinemablend.com/interviews/sonic-the-hedgehog-3-keanu-reeves-references-writers-shared-one-couldnt-make-work-john-wick-matrix |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=Cinemablend |language=en}}</ref>

=== Modern reception ===
In 2001, ''The Matrix'' placed 66th in the [[American Film Institute]]'s "[[AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills|100 Years...100 Thrills]]" list.<ref name="AFIThrills">{{Cite press release |title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills |date=June 21, 2001 |publisher=American Film Institute |url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/tvevents/pdf/thrills400.pdf |access-date=April 14, 2011 |archive-date=August 13, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050813100710/http://www.afi.com/Docs/tvevents/pdf/thrills400.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2007, ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' called ''The Matrix'' the best science-fiction piece of media for the past 25 years.<ref name="Genre's Best">{{Cite magazine |last=Jensen |first=Jeff |date=May 7, 2007 |title=The Sci-Fi 25: The Genre's Best Since '82 |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |url=https://ew.com/article/2008/12/12/sci-fi-25-best-82/ |access-date=May 7, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070508042743/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20036782_20037403_20037541_25,00.html |archive-date=May 8, 2007}}</ref> In 2009, the film was ranked 39th on ''[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]''{{'}}s reader-, actor- and critic-voted list of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time".<ref>{{cite web |title=Empire Features |url=https://www.empireonline.com/500/89.asp |access-date=December 13, 2009 |website=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire Online]] |publisher=[[Bauer Media Group|Bauer Consumer Media]] |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924011921/http://www.empireonline.com/500/89.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> ''The Matrix'' was voted as the fourth best science fiction film in the 2011 list ''Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time'', based on a poll conducted by [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] and ''[[People (American magazine)|People]]''. In 2012, the film was selected for preservation in the [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant."<ref name="NFR">{{Cite news |last=King, Susan |date=December 19, 2012 |title=National Film Registry selects 25 films for preservation |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-national-film-registry-20121217,0,1057524.story |access-date=December 21, 2012 |archive-date=March 6, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130306160304/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-national-film-registry-20121217,0,1057524.story |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Red pill and blue pill ===
{{Main|Red pill and blue pill}}
[[File:Screenshot from 1990 film Total Recall, which scholars connect to The Matrix.(1999).png|thumb|right|Scene from the 1990 film ''[[Total Recall (1990 film)|Total Recall]]'' where Dr. Edgemar ([[Roy Brocksmith]]) explains that swallowing a red pill is a "symbol of your desire to return to reality"]]
Historians of film note that the trope of a "red pill" as decisive in a return to reality made its first appearance in the 1990 film ''[[Total Recall (1990 film)|Total Recall]]'', which has a scene where the hero (played by [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]) is asked to swallow a red pill in order to symbolize his desire to return to reality from a dream-like fantasy.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HApNBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA124 | title=The Monomyth in American Science Fiction Films: 28 Visions of the Hero's Journey | isbn=978-1-4766-1851-7 | last1=Palumbo | first1=Donald E. | date=November 19, 2014 | publisher=McFarland }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9x0cAQAAIAAJ | title=The Matrix Revealed: The Theology of the Matrix Trilogy | isbn=978-0-9752401-1-3 | last1=Worthing | first1=Mark William | date=2004 | publisher=Pantaenus Press }}</ref>

The premise of ''The Matrix'' has been repurposed for multiple [[conspiracy theories]] and [[alt-right]] fringe groups. For example, some online [[Men's rights|men's rights groups]] use the term "redpill" to mean men realizing that they are supposedly being subjugated by feminism.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 1, 2023 |title=Andrew Tate arrest: TikTok and Twitter under fire over false posts from fans |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jan/01/fans-andrew-tate-king-of-toxic-masculinity-flood-web-arrest |access-date=January 1, 2023 |website=the Guardian |archive-date=January 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230101092011/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jan/01/fans-andrew-tate-king-of-toxic-masculinity-flood-web-arrest |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Marche |first=Stephen |date=April 14, 2016 |title=Swallowing the Red Pill: a journey to the heart of modern misogyny |url=http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/14/the-red-pill-reddit-modern-misogyny-manosphere-men |access-date=January 1, 2023 |website=[[The Guardian]] |archive-date=January 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230101075707/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/14/the-red-pill-reddit-modern-misogyny-manosphere-men |url-status=live }}</ref> The term has been used in discussion forums for right-wing topics such as [[Gamergate (harassment campaign)|Gamergate]], [[white supremacy]], [[incel]] subculture and [[QAnon]].<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |last=Tiffany |first=Kaitlyn |date=April 13, 2021 |title=The Alt-Right Has Lost Control of 'Redpill' |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/04/red-pill-meme-alt-right-twitter/618577/ |access-date=January 1, 2023 |website=The Atlantic |archive-date=December 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220020501/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/04/red-pill-meme-alt-right-twitter/618577/ |url-status=live }}</ref> As of 2021, the verb "pill" and suffix "-pilled" had entered more mainstream use and had come to mean developing a sudden interest in something.<ref name="auto"/>

=== Sequels and adaptations ===
{{Main|The Matrix (franchise)}}
The film's mainstream success led to the making of two sequels, ''[[The Matrix Reloaded]]'' and ''[[The Matrix Revolutions]]'', both directed by the Wachowskis. These were [[Back to back film production|filmed back-to-back]] in one [[Production (film)|shoot]] and released on separate dates in 2003.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ojumu, Akin |date=May 18, 2003 |title=Observer Profile: Andy and Larry Wachowski |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/may/18/comment.features |access-date=November 28, 2012 |website=Guardian.co.uk |publisher=[[Guardian Media Group]] |quote=The Matrix Reloaded, which opens here on Friday. ... Andy and Larry Wachowski were apparently busy working on the third part of the trilogy, The Matrix Revolutions, which will be released in November. ... With the resources of Warner Bros. at their disposal, the siblings indulged themselves on the next two, which were shot back-to-back in Australia. |archive-date=September 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911023108/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/may/18/comment.features |url-status=live }}</ref> The first film's introductory tale is succeeded by the story of the impending attack on the human enclave of [[Zion (The Matrix)|Zion]] by a vast machine army.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=May 14, 2003 |title=The Matrix Reloaded |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030514/REVIEWS/305140301/1023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130205085315/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030514/REVIEWS/305140301/1023 |archive-date=February 5, 2013 |access-date=November 29, 2012 |website=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |publisher=[[Sun-Times Media Group]] }}</ref><ref name="The Matrix Reloaded BBC Review">{{cite web |last=Pierce |first=Nev |date=May 22, 2003 |title=The Matrix Reloaded (2003) |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2003/05/15/the_matrix_reloaded_2003_review.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728003044/http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2003/05/15/the_matrix_reloaded_2003_review.shtml |archive-date=July 28, 2012 |access-date=November 29, 2012 |website=BBC.co.uk |publisher=BBC }}</ref> <!-- Neo also learns more about the history of the Matrix, his role as the One and the prophecy that he will end the war.{{citation needed|date=November 2012}} --> The sequels also incorporate longer and more ambitious action scenes, as well as improvements in bullet time and other visual effects.<ref name="The Matrix Reloaded BBC Review"/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Taub, Eric |date=June 3, 2003 |title=The 'Matrix' Invented: A World of Special Effects |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/03/business/the-matrix-invented-a-world-of-special-effects.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |url-access=subscription |access-date=December 5, 2012 |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305231821/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/03/business/the-matrix-invented-a-world-of-special-effects.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Also released was ''[[The Animatrix]]'', a collection of nine animated short films, many of which were created in the same [[anime|Japanese animation]] style<ref name="The Animatrix IGN Review">{{cite web |last=Conrad |first=Jeremy |date=May 23, 2003 |title=The Animatrix |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2003/05/23/the-animatrix |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529051705/http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/05/23/the-animatrix |archive-date=May 29, 2014 |access-date=November 29, 2012 |website=[[IGN]] |publisher=[[News Corporation (1980–2013)|News Corporation]] }}</ref> that was a strong influence on the live action trilogy. ''The Animatrix'' was overseen and approved by the Wachowskis, who only wrote four of the segments themselves but did not direct any of them; much of the project was developed by notable figures from the world of anime.<ref name="The Animatrix IGN Review"/><!--(Remove this tag only after we can find a source to support these sentences.) Four of the films were originally released on the series' official website;{{dead link|date=November 2012}} one was shown in cinemas with the Warner Bros. film ''[[Dreamcatcher (film)|Dreamcatcher]]''; the others first appeared with the DVD release of all nine shorts. Several of the films were shown first on UK television prior to their DVD release.{{citation needed|date=November 2012}} -->

In March 2017, Warner Bros. was in early stages of developing a relaunch of the franchise with [[Zak Penn]] in talks to write a treatment and interest in getting [[Michael B. Jordan]] attached to star. According to ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'' neither the Wachowskis nor Joel Silver were involved with the endeavor, although the studio would like to get at minimum the blessing of the Wachowskis.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Borys Kit |last2=Kim Masters |last3=Rebecca Ford |title='The Matrix' Reboot in the Works at Warner Bros. (Exclusive) |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/matrix-reboot-works-at-warner-bros-986292 |access-date=March 15, 2017 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=March 14, 2017 |archive-date=March 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315031900/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/matrix-reboot-works-at-warner-bros-986292 |url-status=live }}</ref> On August 20, 2019, Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman [[Toby Emmerich]] officially announced that a fourth Matrix film was in the works, with [[Keanu Reeves]] and [[Carrie-Anne Moss]] set to reprise their roles as Neo and Trinity, respectively.<ref>{{cite web |date=August 20, 2019 |title=Whoa: 'The Matrix 4' is Happening With Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss and Lana Wachowski Returning |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/the-matrix-4/ |access-date=August 23, 2019 |website=/Film |language=en-US |archive-date=August 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190821020646/https://www.slashfilm.com/the-matrix-4/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[The Matrix Resurrections]]'' was released in theaters and on HBO Max on December 22, 2021.

In September 2022, [[Danny Boyle]] was announced to be directing and producing a live immersive dance production of the film, entitled ''Free Your Mind'', which debuted in October 2023 at the ''Aviva Studios'' in [[Manchester]], England.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Yossman |first1=K. J. |date=September 29, 2022 |title=Danny Boyle to Direct Dance Adaptation of 'The Matrix' |url=https://variety.com/2022/legit/global/danny-boyle-dance-adaptation-the-matrix-1235388106/ |access-date=September 30, 2022 |website=Variety |language=en-US |archive-date=September 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930020638/https://variety.com/2022/legit/global/danny-boyle-dance-adaptation-the-matrix-1235388106/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

== See also ==
{{cols}}
* [[Cyberspace]]
* [[Dialectical materialism]]
* [[Henosis]]
* [[Know thyself]]
* [[List of films featuring hallucinogens]]
* [[Metaverse]]
* ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''
* [[Simulated reality]]
* [[Thought experiment]]
* [[Virtual reality]]
* [[Virtual world]]
* ''[[We (novel)|We]]'', novel by [[Yevgeny Zamyatin]]
{{colend}}
;TV
* ''[[The Deadly Assassin]]'', 1976 episode of [[Doctor Who]] in a virtual reality called the "Matrix"
;Films
{{cols}}
* ''[[World on a Wire]]'', 1973 German science fiction series
* ''[[Tron (film)|Tron]]'', 1982 film
* ''[[Strange Days (film)|Strange Days]]'', 1995 film
* ''[[Dark City (1998 film)|Dark City]]'', 1998 film
* ''[[The Thirteenth Floor]]'', 1999 film
* ''[[Existenz]]'', 1999 film
* ''[[Computer Boy]]'', 2000 parody
* ''[[The Meatrix]]'', 2003 parody
* ''[[Code Lyoko]]'', 2003 French animated series
* ''[[Infinity Train]]'', 2019 American animated series
{{colend}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
<references>

</references>

== Bibliography ==
*{{Cite book |last=Babenko |first=Yelyzaveta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XPY--YwYmMgC |title=Analysis of the Film the Matrix |date=2011 |publisher=GRIN Verlag |isbn=978-3-640-91285-8}}
*{{Cite book |last=Clover |first=Joshua |url=https://archive.org/details/matrix0000clov |title=The Matrix |date=2004 |publisher=BFI |isbn=978-1-84457-045-4 |url-access=registration}}
*{{Cite book |last=Condon |first=Paul |title=The Matrix Unlocked: An Unauthorized Review of the Matrix Phenomenon |date=2003 |publisher=[[Contender Books]] |location=London |isbn=978-1-84357-093-6}}
*{{Cite book |last=Irwin |first=William |url=https://archive.org/details/matrixphilosophy00irwi |title=The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real |date=2002 |publisher=Open Court |isbn=978-0-8126-9502-1 |url-access=registration}}
*{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Steven E. |title=Against Technology: From the Luddites to Neo-Luddism |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-97868-2}}
*{{Cite book |last=Pegg |first=Simon |title=Nerd Do Well |date=2010 |publisher=Century |isbn=978-1-84605-811-0}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Toropov |first1=Brandon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wOazyEaidDYC |title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Taoism |last2=Hansen |first2=Chad |date=2002 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-02-864262-8}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Wachowski |first1=Larry |title=The Art of The Matrix |last2=Wachowski |first2=Andy |date=2000 |publisher=Titan |isbn=978-1-84023-173-1}}
*{{Cite book |last=Wood |first=Aylish |title=Digital Encounters |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-41066-3}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/matrix/}}
* [http://www.whatisthematrix.com/ whatisthematrix.com], the first and original Matrix website
* {{IMDb title}}
* {{IMFDB title|Matrix,_The}}

{{The Matrix}}
{{The Wachowskis}}
{{Extended reality}}
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for ''The Matrix''
|list =
{{Academy Award Best Sound Editing}}
{{Academy Award Best Visual Effects}}
{{BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects}}
{{Empire Award for Best Film}}
{{MTV Movie Award for Best Movie}}
{{MTV Movie Award for Best Fight}}
{{Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film 1991–2010}}
}}

{{Subject bar|portal1=1990s|portal2=Film |portal3=United States|portal4=Australia|portal5=Science fiction|commons=yes|n=yes|wikt=yes|q=yes|d=yes|d-search=Q83495}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matrix}}<!-- {{DEFAULTSORT:Matrix, The}} would sort inappropriately after The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions -->
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