Yes… it’s already been 20 years. 1999’s The Matrix is perhaps the most iconic film involving VR ever made, and later this month it’ll return to to select theaters in the US for one week.

Major American movie theater chain AMC announced that The Matrix will be shown in some 135 of the chain’s ‘Dolby Cinema’ theaters from August 30th to September 9th; advanced tickets can be purchased starting today.

Directed by the Wachowskis, The Matrix is the first in a trilogy of films about a dystopian future where a human vs. AI war led to humanity being defeated and enslaved as a biologic power source while being perpetually and unknowingly imprisoned in a simulation known as The Matrix. The story follows the journey of rebels seeking to free humanity from their invisible incarceration.

The film is widely considered a cinematic masterpiece thanks to its combination of groundbreaking special & visual effects, expert direction, and compelling plot. The Matrix won four Academy Awards and two BAFTA Awards, among a host of others.

Its greatest legacy, however, is its cultural impact—along with indelible mark it on the action films that came after it, the film seems to be nearly universally known for its relation to virtual reality, and remains a widespread touchstone on the topic 20 years later.

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Perhaps not coincidence with the film’s 20th anniversary, rumors have recently been swirling that a Matrix remake is in the works; nothing official has been confirmed at this point, though it seems that the Wachowskis aren’t likely to be involved.

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • brandon9271

    You can’t remake the Matrix.. it’s just not going to work. Even the sequels failed to capture that initial sense of awe from the first film. A reboot with be a garbage cash grab.

    • kuhpunkt

      Not a remake. A film set in the same universe.

    • dk

      well the architect can reboot the matrix ….we can definitely reboot a movie

  • Jarilo

    What’s there to remake? It has aged well. You can watch it now just fine.

    • kuhpunkt

      There’s no remake in the works. Some people are working on a movie set in the same world.

    • Warscent

      They must remake it to inject “wokeness” and utterly destroy the franchise.
      Neo must be a black transvestite leftist.

      • Jarilo

        lmao

      • ra51

        That’s actually quite interesting.

      • Ron

        LOL

      • Nepenthe

        Sadly you’re almost certainly spot on.

      • CarlosTSG

        Firstly they must change the end credits from the Wachowski Brothers to Wachowski Sisters

    • Bob

      Remake it. In VR :)

  • draez

    this is just a re-showing in cinemas. the remake is just a rumor.
    that said, yeah this film doesnt need a remake and was the first dvd i ever bought.. the sequels however

  • There’s a Reboot, not a Remake. Either way, it’ll be crap. The Wachowski’s still owe me a film credit for my contributions to the 1st Matrix. Hey Lana, just because you removed your penis, doesn’t mean you’re not a sphincter. You promised me a film credit. I still want the Credit! Have you no shame? Where’s the humanity ?!

    • Onyx Lee

      May I ask, what happened? What was your role in the movie? I would like to sincerely thank you for any contribution.

  • MosBen

    It’s bonkers to me that they’ve never done a special edition that updates the CGI, particularly in the second two movies. The movies were limited by the technology of their day, and it resulted in some obvious problems. But here we are, in 2019, where fixing that sort of thing is kind of expensive, but not crazily so, and the movies retain enough cultural relevance that they’ve more than pay for it, especially if built around an anniversary re-release like this.

    • The Rain in Spain’s Therapist

      The Burly Brawl from Reloaded could use a serious touch up.

  • Please, don’t make a remake… I would hate it

    • oompah

      But why not make it in 3D
      or better
      in virtual reality

    • dk

      just watch The Lost Room and imagine the twist at the end is it’s the matrix and if a person disappears in the room wakes up in the real world :P ….they can always come up with something interesting if they try

  • oompah

    Matrix theory == Buddhism (& partially Hinduism)
    (Buddha’s pic was shown in a later Matrix movie)
    What is means is that every creature is trapped
    and so accepts the reality around it to believe it to be true:

    A rat believes in its style of life living in a hole.
    A monkey accepts its life as living in trees.
    A tiger accepts its life of violence
    A human accepts that going to school, then work , marry etc is normal.

    whereas life is only a means to lead it to death
    and since death is separation of life from material body,
    also disease , old age , pain , misfortune etc are also part of life,
    hence life is suffering.

    Newton questioned the fall of apple & achieved knowledge that changed the world.
    Similarly if we also question these fundamental facts of death, disease & suffering we can find a new realm where all these infirmities may not exist (Nirvana/moksha).
    (remember we live in a 4.5% world : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_energy )

    https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.01.0.bodh.html

    • dk

      or u know it’s about a brain hooked up to an artificial reality

      • oompah

        yes
        Acceptance of real reality is the real problem I believe, considering that the physical body with sense organs & the believing all inputs/contact provided by the samsara could be the source of delusion similar to VR headset. But alas unless we remove this headset , we cant know.
        But as Buddha says : ‘There is a way’.
        There is a way(other than death).
        Instead of accepting the inputs from the sense organs, why not we stop the inputs(nirodha) & stop reacting.
        When we remain in the state of stoppage of inputs for a certain amount of time, the conditioning changes, then we slowly start becoming aware of the truth about the light within(samadhi/zen) as the source of life.
        You are light & bliss.

        • dk

          if u don’t accept this reality u will end up as a splatter on the crosswalk…. but obviously people accept whatever and obviously u can influence your perception of things

    • Pre Seznik

      Pretty sure Plato’s cave predates your Buddhist sources there, and it fits the Matrix *perfectly*.

      • Pretty sure Buddha (born around 5-600 BCE) actually lived before Plato (born 429 BCE).

        • Pre Seznik

          What bearing does that have on when that shit was written, which was in the 1st century BCE? How embarrassing for you XD

          • So, completely disregarding oral tradition of Indian culture of that time? Oooo-k then. Let’s just leave it at “sources” clearly having a different meaning to you than me.

          • cefizelj gnom

            Yes. That particular story could’ve been invented the very week it was written down. Nobody can possibly know, now. You have an embarrassingly poor understanding of how this shit works.

  • JesuSaveSouls

    A great movie and hidden from many that its also a biblical analogy of spiritual warefare.Angels verse demons,the word verse the world and righteousness verse wickedness.

  • impurekind

    They should have done a stereoscopic 3D version that I could watch in my Rift for the full cinematic effect.