Sci-fi movies come and go, but few have the impact of The Matrix. The film arrived at just the right time, it was during the whole "Y2K" freak out, it introduced the game-changing "Bullet Time" action sequence, and had a storyline that fueled conspiracy theorists and made regular folks think about how the world really is. And it had a kick-ass cast and slick direction from The Wachowsis. But nothing is untouchable, and it looks like a reboot is finally about to happen.
THR reports Warner Bros. is in the very early stages of rebooting The Matrix, with Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand) in talks to write the initial story treatment. Right now the Wachowskis aren't involved but WB would want to get their approval before proceeding, which is a nice gesture to the siblings who have been pretty loyal to the studio for years. It's possible the siblings could join up at some point as WB seems to want them included if it can be done without producer Joel Silver tagging along.
Don't expect to see any of the original cast returning, either. There's some early buzz that Michael B. Jordan is a contender to star, but even if he doesn't sign on they'll seek out somebody new rather than bring back Keanu Reeves. Then again, things are so early on that we don't know how this will shake out.
As expected, there's already been an outcry about this. I find it a little surprising since so few liked the two sequels that followed. Those, in my opinion, are what leave The Matrix a pretty good candidate to be rebooted just to see if something better can be done with the premise. And we are in a very different place than we were in 1999, and I think an argument can be made that The Matrix should be redone to reflect how things are now. Perhaps they should be rebooted every twenty years or so.
