Keanu Reeves Crushed At The Box Office By A Surprising Movie
Keanu Reeves and The Matrix Resurrections was beaten out at the box office by a rather surprising movie. There were many factors at play
The Christmas box office numbers are in and The Matrix: Resurrections has placed third in the race for the holiday weekend’s number one spot. The Keanu Reeves starrer comes in behind Spider-Man: No Way Home and Sing 2. Realistically, the film didn’t really stand a chance against the grand finale in Tom Holland’s superhero trilogy. But being placed after an animated feature would have been a little disappointing.
There are a few factors that may have contributed to The Matrix: Resurrections poor box office performance. Debuting last Wednesday, Keanu Reeves’ latest offering received a day and date release in theaters and on HBO Max. Due to the surge of the Omicron variant, a lot of folks may have opted to watch the movie at home. Interestingly, it’s the final Warner Bros. film to receive this release plan, which the studio promised would be exclusive to 2021.
The Keanu Reeves movie was tapped to earn about $40 million from 3,552 theaters over its first five days of release. Unfortunately, The Matrix: Resurrections ended up under-performing, only grossing $12 million over the weekend with a five-day sum of $22.5 million. The total was lower than the studio’s previous Christmas release, Wonder Woman 1984, which earned a lackluster $16.7 million from just 2,151 theaters. That film’s failure was also partly blamed on the simultaneous HBO Max release and poor audience reactions.
Arriving 18 years after The Matrix Revolutions, The Matrix 4 serves as a franchise reboot and a reimaging of its predecessors. While fans seemed excited to travel back to Keanu Reeves’ dystopian world, the film received rather mixed reactions from critics. The performances were praised, but the writing, action sequences, and visuals were brutally maligned.
Moreover, The Matrix: Resurrections only managed to earn an approval rating of 65% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 6.30/10. The site’s overall critic consensus said the Keanu Reeves film lacks the bracingly original craft of the 1999 release. However, it does manage to revisit the world of the franchise with wit, a timely perspective, and a lot of heart.
Meanwhile, Keanu Reeves fans can still catch him in The Matrix: Resurrections. Announced in August 2019, the film is co-written, directed, and produced by Lana Wachowski, who worked on the three previous films with her sister Lilly. For the new film, Lana shares scriptwriting duties with Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell. The project also has Warner Bros. partnering with Village Roadshow once more.
The Matrix: Resurrections sees stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss reprising their roles as Neo and Trinity respectively. The film also stars Jada Pinkett Smith, Daniel Bernhardt, Abdul-Mateen II, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra, Christina Ricci, Eréndira Ibarra, and more.
Set 20 years after the events of The Matrix Revolutions, Neo (Keanu Reeves) is living a seemingly ordinary life as Thomas A. Anderson in San Francisco where his therapist prescribes him blue pills. Neither he nor Trinity recognizes each other. However, Morpheus offers him the red pill and reopens his mind to the world of the Matrix, which has become more secure and dangerous in the years since the Smith infection. The Matrix: Resurrections is currently showing in theaters and on HBO Max.
