It’s the summer of Keanu, which means there’s no better time to remind yourself again what pill to chose — that’s the kind of inside The Matrix joke you’ll learn to appreciate only after you’ve seen the 1999 film that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. And that anniversary is, of course, the main reason why The Matrix returns to theaters. Before you ask, this re-release won’t come with any new scenes, nor will it attempt to steal any box office records, which is something we saw happen earlier this year.
You’ll have a full week, from August 30th to September 5th, to see The Matrix in a theater for the first time, if you hadn’t caught it back when it launched in early 1999. Even if you’ve seen The Matrix on TV or streaming services, it’s still worth trying out the full cinematic experience. When The Matrix launched, it changed the game when it comes to special effects and action sequences. And The Matrix is probably one of Keanu Reeves’s most influential films ever. John Wick, which evolved into a trilogy of its own, is also right up there.
The massive success of John Wick 3 may have played a key role in convincing Warner Bros. to go forward with this re-release.
The Matrix had two sequels, but those films won’t be part of AMC’s streaming. This is solely a celebration of the first movie — from AMC’s announcement. Here’s the company’s synopsis for the film:
Celebrate the 20th anniversary of THE MATRIX, back in Dolby Cinema at AMC 8/30–9/5. Thomas A. Anderson is a man living two lives. By day he is an average computer programmer and by night a hacker known as Neo. Neo has always questioned his reality, but the truth is far beyond his imagination. Neo finds himself targeted by the police when he is contacted by Morpheus, a legendary computer hacker branded a terrorist by the government. Morpheus awakens Neo to the real world, a ravaged wasteland where most of humanity have been captured by a race of machines that live off of the humans’ body heat and electrochemical energy and who imprison their minds within an artificial reality known as the Matrix. As a rebel against the machines, Neo must return to the Matrix and confront the agents: super-powerful computer programs devoted to snuffing out Neo and the entire human rebellion.
