The Matrix Revolutions was released worldwide on November 5, 2003, byWarner Bros. Pictures. It was the first live-action feature film to be released in both regular andIMAX theaters simultaneously. It grossed $427 million, becomingthe eighth-highest-grossing film of 2003, and received mixed reviews from critics.
After theMjolnir saved the crew ofNebuchadnezzar,[b]Neo andBane still lie unconscious in the ship's medical bay. Neo's consciousness is trapped in asubway station named Mobil Ave, atransition zone between the Matrix and the machine world. He meets a "family" of programs, including a girl namedSati. The "father" of Sati tells Neo the subway is controlled by the Trainman, a program loyal to theMerovingian. When Neo tries to board a train with the family, the Trainman refuses Neo and overpowers him.
Seraph contactsMorpheus andTrinity on behalf of theOracle, who informs them of Neo's confinement. Seraph, Morpheus, and Trinity enterClub Hel, where they confront the Merovingian and force him to release Neo. Troubled by visions of the Machine City, Neo visits the Oracle, who reveals thatSmith intends to destroy both the Matrix and the real world. She tells him "everything that has a beginning has an end". After Neo leaves, a large group of Smiths appears and assimilates Sati and Seraph. The Oracle does not resist assimilation, and Smith gains her powers ofprecognition.
In the real world, the crews of theNebuchadnezzar and theMjolnir find and reactivateNiobe's ship, theLogos. They interrogate Bane, who says that he has no recollection of the earlier massacre. As the captains plan their return to Zion to help its defence, Neo requests a ship to travel to the Machine City. Motivated by her encounter with the Oracle,[c] Niobe offers him theLogos. Neo departs, accompanied by Trinity. Bane, who has stowed away on theLogos, takes Trinity hostage. Neo realizes Smith has assimilated Bane and, in their fight, Bane blinds Neo with a power cable. Neo discovers he can still "see" machine source code in the real world and uses this ability to kill Bane. Trinity pilots them to the Machine City.
Zion's shipyard is overwhelmed by a horde of Sentinels. Niobe and Morpheus rush toward Zion in theMjolnir to aid the human defenses. During the shipyard battle, the fatally-woundedCaptain Mifune instructsKid to open the gate, which he does with the aid ofZee. After crashing through the half-open gate, theMjolnir crew discharge itsEMP, disabling all the Sentinels present but also Zion's remaining defenses. The humans are forced to retreat and wait for the next attack, thinking it will be their last stand.
TheLogos approaches Machine City and is besieged by machines. Neo shuts several of them down using his newfound powers[b] but passes out from exhaustion. To avoid their attackers, Trinity flies above them, briefly glimpsing the open sky before crashing. Impaled by debris from the crash, Trinity declares her love for Neo before dying. Neo enters the Machine City and encounters the machine leader, the "Deus Ex Machina".[d] Neo warns them that Smith threatens both the machine and human worlds. He offers to stop Smith in exchange for peace between humans and machines. The Deus Ex Machina agrees, and the Sentinels pause their attack on Zion.
The machines plug Neo into the Matrix, whose population has now been entirely assimilated by Smith. The Smith-assimilated Oracle steps forth, telling Neo he has foreseen Smith's own victory. After a protracted fight, Smith recalls a vision and tells Neo that "everything that has a beginning has an end", unknowingly repeating what the Oracle had said to Neo earlier. This appears to cause Neo to concede defeat and allow himself to be assimilated. Outside the Matrix, pulses of energy surge into Neo's body, which causes the Neo-Smith clone, then all the other Smith clones in the Matrix, to be destroyed. This kills Neo but restores the Oracle and everyone in the Matrix. The Sentinels withdraw from Zion, Morpheus and Niobe embrace, and the city rejoices. The machines carry Neo's body away.
The Matrix is rebooted, and theArchitect meets the Oracle in a park, scolding her for having "played a dangerous game". He begrudgingly concedes that those who desire to leave the Matrix will be allowed their freedom. After the Architect leaves, Seraph asks the Oracle if she had always known Neo would save them. She replies that she did not know, but she believed.
Zee was originally played byAaliyah, who died in a plane crash on August 25, 2001, before filming was complete, requiring her scenes to be reshot with Nona Gaye.[7][8]Jet Li was offered the role of Seraph, but turned it down as he did not want his martial arts moves digitally recorded.[9]
In contrast to its predecessors, very few "source" tracks are used in the film. Aside fromDon Davis' score, again collaborating withJuno Reactor, only one external track (byPale 3) is used. Although Davis rarely focuses on strong melodies, familiarleitmotifs from earlier in the series reappear. For example, Neo and Trinity's love theme—which briefly surfaces in the two preceding films—is finally fully expanded into "Trinity Definitely"; the theme from the Zion docks inReloaded returns as "Men in Metal", and the energetic drumming from theReloaded tea house fight between Neo and Seraph opens "Tetsujin", as Seraph, Trinity and Morpheus fight off Club Hel's three doormen. The climactic battle theme, named "Neodämmerung" (in reference toWagner'sGötterdämmerung), features a choir singing extracts (shlokas) from thePavamana Mantra, introduced in theUpanishads. The chorus can be roughly translated fromSanskrit as follows: "lead us from untruth to truth, lead us from darkness to light, lead us from death to immortality, peace peace peace". The extracts were brought to Davis by the Wachowskis when he informed them that it would be wasteful for such a large choir to be singing simple "ooh"s and "aah"s (according to the DVD commentary, Davis felt that the dramatic impact of the piece would be lost if the choir was to sing 'This is the one, see what he can do' in plain English). These extracts return in the film's denouement, and inNavras, the track that plays over the closing credits (which may be considered a looseremix of "Neodämmerung").
On opening day,The Matrix Revolutions scored $24.3 million, becoming the third-highest Wednesday opening, behindThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers andStar Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.[17] During its three-day opening weekend, it earned $48.5 million.[18] In its first five days of release, the film grossed $83.8 million in the United States and Canada from 3,502 theaters,[19] but dropped 66% during the second week.[19][20] For three years, it had the highest five-day Wednesday opening for anyWarner Bros. film until it was taken bySuperman Returns in 2006.[21] The film even competed against the newly released family filmsBrother Bear andElf.[22]
Internationally, the film grossed $119 million in its first 5 days from 10,013 prints in 107 territories, with the third-biggest opening ever in Japan and Spain and the fourth biggest in the United Kingdom, Italy and Mexico.[16] Combined, it grossed $203 million in its first five days.[20] This made it the highest worldwide opening weekend for any film, holding the record until it was beaten byThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King a month later.[23]The Matrix Revolutions also achieved the record for having the biggest international opening weekend for an R-rated film until 2015 when it was surpassed byFifty Shades of Grey.[24] The film grossed over $139 million in North America and approximately $427 million worldwide,[5] roughly half ofThe Matrix Reloaded box-office total, and was theeighth-highest-grossing film of 2003.
The Matrix Revolutions was released onDVD andVHS on April 6, 2004.[25] The film grossed $116 million in DVD sales. Additionally, it was released on4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on October 30, 2018.[26]
On review aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes,The Matrix Revolutions holds an approval rating of 33% based on 215 reviews and an average rating of 5.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A disappointing conclusion to theMatrix trilogy as characters and ideas take a back seat to the special effects."[27] OnMetacritic, the film has aweighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 41 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[28] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, a grade down from the "B+" earned by the previous film and two grades down from the "A−" earned by the first film, therefore the second lowest grade earned by a film in the series.[29]
Some critics criticized the film for beinganticlimactic.[30][31] Additionally, some critics regard the film as less philosophically ambiguous than its predecessor,The Matrix Reloaded.[32][33] Critics had difficulty finding closure pertaining to events fromThe Matrix Reloaded, and were generally dissatisfied.[34][35]
Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, despite offering criticisms of his own, on the grounds that it at least provided closure to the story well enough so that fans following the series would prefer seeing it as to not.[36]
While making theMatrix films, the Wachowskis told their close collaborators that at that time they had no intention of making another installment afterThe Matrix Revolutions.[37][38][39][40] Instead, they gave their blessing to the notion ofgamers "inherit[ing] the storyline", andThe Matrix Online video game was billed as the official continuation.[41] In February 2015, in interviews promotingJupiter Ascending, Lilly Wachowski called a return toThe Matrix a "particularly repelling idea in these times", noting the studios' tendency to green-light sequels, reboots, and adaptations over original material,[42] while Lana Wachowski, addressing rumors about a potentialreboot, said that they had not heard anything, but she believed that the studio might be looking to replace them.[43] At various times, Keanu Reeves and Hugo Weaving have stated that they would be willing to reprise their roles in potentialMatrix films, but only if the Wachowskis were involved.[44][45]
In March 2017,The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Warner Bros. was in early stages of developing a relaunch of the franchise, withZak Penn in talks to write a treatment, and interest in gettingMichael B. Jordan attached to star. According to the article neither the Wachowskis nor Joel Silver were involved at that stage, although the studio would like to get at minimum the blessing of the Wachowskis.[46]
Warner Bros. officially announced the development on a fourth film in August 2019, with Lana Wachowski serving as director and producer on it. Lana wrote the screenplay withDavid Mitchell andAleksander Hemon.Grant Hill produced it alongside Lana. The production is a joint-venture between Warner Bros. Pictures andVillage Roadshow Pictures, similar to the original films. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss reprise their roles from the previous films; Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving do not appear in the film. Production began in February 2020 inSan Francisco,[47][48] briefly halted due to theCOVID-19 pandemic,[49] and wrapped in November of that same year. The film,The Matrix Resurrections, had its world premiere in Toronto, Canada on December 16, 2021, and was released in theaters and onHBO Max on December 22, 2021.
^The "Deus Ex Machina" is mentioned in the credits for the film—Not to be confused with the plot device of the same name :Deus ex Machina
^Gloria Foster, who played the Oracle in the first two films, died before the completion of her filming for the third.[6] She was replaced byMary Alice. Her changed appearance is addressed in the film's plot.
^Hayes, Dade; Bing, Jonathan (2004).Open Wide: How Hollywood Box Office Became a National Obsession. Miramax Books. p. 372.ISBN1401352006.
^abGroves, Don (November 17, 2003). "'The Matrix' Takes Over the World".Variety. p. 17.10,013 prints in its first five days in 107 territories [excluding the US/Canada]
