Rumor: The Wachowskis Planning New 'The Matrix' Trilogy

It's probably safe to assume that The Wachowski siblings were unprepared for how huge their 1999 sci-fi classic, The Matrix, would become. Not only was it a smash at the box office, but it spawned a couple of mindbogglingly bad sequels, inspired a legion of copycats mimicking the whole "bullet time" thing, and grew into a massive multimedia empire and pop culture icon. However, the Wachowskis haven't come close to matching it since, leading to years of rumors of another Matrix movie that never pan out. Well, now there's another one claiming it's a good time to plug back in.

The guys over at Latino Review claim the Wachowskis have begun development on a new Matrix trilogy, penning treatments that would be prequels rather than follow-ups. They say Warner Bros. is keen on getting these films ready ASAP so they can compete with heavy-hitters like Star Wars and Avatar in 2017, and that's a reasoning that actually makes a little bit of sense. Not much else is known, including whether the Wachowskis would be directing, but one of the early outlines is said to be about "the birth of the Matrix". And no, this new trilogy won't recognize any of the satellite stories like the ones in The Animatrix.

All the Wachowskis have really accomplished of late is racking up huge budgets for films that nobody wants to see. Speed Racer and Cloud Atlas were expensive failures, and judging by some early reaction to the Jupiter Ascending trailer it may flop too. That doesn't inspire a lot of studio confidence, and even Warner Bros. may be hesitant to invest in such a venture. We'll just have to wait and see if this is true, or just a dream we were sure is so real.

For now, check out a Japanese trailer for the Wachowskis' Jupiter Ascending, starring Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis. It opens July 18th 2014 and still looks like an intergalactic Snow White and the Huntsman.