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Keanu Reeves back as Neo for Matrix 4, with Lana Wachowski directing

Whoa.

Oscar Gonzalez Former staff reporter
Oscar Gonzalez is a Texas native who covered video games, conspiracy theories, misinformation and cryptocurrency.
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Oscar Gonzalez
2 min read
the-matrix

Neo will rise once again. 

Warner Bros. Pictures

Time to choose the red pill all over again. Matrix 4 will begin production in 2020 and will bring back Keanu Reeves as Neo and Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity, with Lana Wachowski producing and directing the film, reports Variety.  

Wachowski will also co-write the script with authors Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell, who wrote the book Cloud Atlas that the Wachowskis adapted into a movie in 2012. John Toll -- who won back-to-back Oscars for cinematography in Braveheart and Legends of the Fall -- has also joined the production according to The Hollywood Reporter Thursday. 

Twenty years have passed since The Matrix opened in the US on March 31, 1999. Computer-generated imagery (CGI) was revolutionizing special effects, video tapes were giving way to DVDs and mobile phones were fast becoming a must-have. The Matrix captured all that. It's a movie everyone remembers -- even if they haven't seen it.  

In the first film, directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski, Reeves played a computer programmer and cybercriminal. Neo comes across Trinity, who brings him to see Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne). In a fateful choosing of the red pill over the blue pill, Neo learns his reality is a program called The Matrix. He wakes up to the grim actuality of humans being farmed as power sources by robots. By the end of the film, he comes to realize his destiny of being "The One" who will save humanity.   

The Matrix grossed $463 million in ticket sales worldwide and kickstarted the Matrix franchise, which included video games, an animated feature and two more films.

Watch this: The Matrix remembered

Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions, the follow-ups to the first film, both came out in 2003. The Wachowskis filmed both simultaneously, with the principal actors returning. 

Matrix Reloaded takes places six months after the events of The Matrix. Neo is still getting used to being The One and tries to change the future he sees of Trinity falling to her death. Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), who was defeated by Neo in the first movie, returns as a different entity that spreads across the Matrix like a virus. While Neo is able to save Trinity, the movie ends with Agent Smith making his way out of the program and infecting the real world. The film took in $742 million worldwide at the box office. 

In Matrix Revolutions, Neo makes an agreement with the robots: He'll defeat Agent Smith if they let humanity survive. In a final fight between the two, Neo sacrifices himself to destroy Smith and create peace between humans and the robots. The third film brought in $427 million in ticket sales

Warner Bros. Pictures didn't immediately reply to a request for comment. 

Originally published Aug. 20, 1:27 p.m. PT. 
Update, 2:25 p.m.: Adds details about the earlier Matrix films. Aug. 21: Adds more production details. Aug. 23: Adds cinematographer details. 

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