Critics and Competition Crushes ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ [Video]

The new movie “The Matrix Resurrections” is not received well by audiences. The dismal box office coupled with the mixed reviews erases any hope of success.

The fourth Matrix movie stars Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Laurence Fishburne reprise their roles as Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II from 2021’s “Candyman” was one of the new faces in the Matrix universe. Lana Wachowski wrote, directed, and produced the film. She and her sister Lilly Wachowski created the Matrix franchise and original trilogy of movies.

No Way to Compete

“The Matrix Resurrections” was released in the U.S on December 22, 2021. Since then, the film has not performed as well and has been dramatically overshadowed by its main competitor, “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” The Spider-man movie has reached nearly $1 billion in box office sales without a Chinese release. The Matrix has struggled to recoup half of its $190 million budget thus far. Warner Bros. distributed the film in theaters and online via HBO max, which galvanized some of the film’s box office potential. This will be the last film to use the day-and-date release model where many movies were available to people at home and those who went out to cinemas.

Consequences of Streaming

Films like “Godzilla Vs. Kong” and Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” have performed well even with the hybrid release model. However, the Matrix 4 was still not successful on this front. Its five-day total amounted to 2.8 million people watching it, about 22% behind “Godzilla Vs. Kong.” It brought in $22.5 million at the box office in the same period. The film’s lack of success was further weakened by viewing pirated copies online immediately. One critique of the day-and-date model is the higher chance that the movie will be prone to piracy.

Despite the slow start, the movie still has some time to catch up. It could be a hit in other countries. What might help it best is the possibility that everyone has seen the new Spider-man movie and now has time for something else.

Written by Chiagozie Onyewuchi
Edited by Cathy Milne-Ware

Sources:

Deadline: ‘Matrix Resurrections’ Ranks Behind ‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’ In Streaming Viewership; Pic Is Most Pirated Of The Week; by Anthony D’Alessandro
Yahoo!: ‘Spider-Man’ notches more than $1B in global ticket sales as ‘Matrix Resurrections’ disappoints

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Governo do Estado de São Paulo’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Brecht Bug’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License