Are you ready to see how deep the rabbit hole goes...again?
The Hollywood Reporter revealed yesterday that Warner Bros. is developing a relaunch of The Matrix, the 1999 science fiction action movie classic written and directed by the Wachowskis starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Hugo Weaving.
According to the article, the project is in the early stages, with Zak Penn in talks to write a treatment and interest in Michael B. Jordan as the star. Penn is a co-writer on the upcoming films Pacific Rim: Uprising and Ready Player One, and has written for the movies The Avengers, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men: The Last Stand, Elektra, and X2: X-Men United. Jordan is appearing in the upcoming movie Black Panther, and has appeared in the films Creed, Fantastic Four (2015), Fruitvale Station, Chronicle, and Red Tails.
The Matrix explored a dystopian future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality called "the Matrix", created by sentient machines to subdue the human population, while their bodies' heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. A computer programmer named Neo discovers the truth and is drawn into a rebellion against the machines, which involves other people who have been freed from the Matrix. The movie made over $463 million worldwide from a budget of $63 million.
The article also claims the Wachowskis, who also wrote and directed the two Matrix sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, "are not involved and the nature of their potential engagement with a new version has not been determined."
Joel Silver, who produced the original trilogy, reportedly approached Warner Bros. about the idea of a potential new film based on The Matrix. However, Silver sold his interest in all his movies to the studio in 2012 for about $30 million, according to THR's sources. Warner Bros. is "leery of including him in any meaningful role, as he not only has a reputation for budget-control issues, but apparently has a strained relationship with the Wachowskis."