The Matrix | |
---|---|
Directed by | The Wachowski Brothers |
Produced by | Joel Silver |
Written by | The Wachowski Brothers |
Starring |
Keanu Reeves Laurence Fishburne Carrie-Anne Moss Hugo Weaving |
Music by | Don Davis |
Cinematography | Bill Pope |
Edited by | Zach Staenberg |
Production
company |
|
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date
|
1999–2003 |
Running time
|
393 minutes |
Country | United States Australia |
Language | English |
Budget | $363 million |
Box office | $1,632,989,142 |
The Matrix is a science fiction action media franchise created by The Wachowskis and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The series began with the feature film The Matrix (1999), and continued with two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003). The characters and settings of the films are further explored in other media set in the same fictional universe, including animation, comics, and video games. As of February 2016, the franchise had generated $3 billion in revenue, making it one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.
The series features a cyberpunk story incorporating references to numerous philosophical and religious ideas where the heroes fight a desperate war against machine overlords who have enslaved humanity in an extremely sophisticated virtual reality gestalt. Influences include the principles of mythology, anime, and Hong Kong action films (particularly "heroic bloodshed" and martial arts movies).
Two of the Matrix video games, both supervised by the Wachowskis, are a part of the official chronology. Enter the Matrix, mainly focused on Niobe and Ghost and also written by the Wachowskis, connects the story of the short animated film Final Flight of the Osiris with the events of Reloaded, while The Matrix Online is a direct sequel to Revolutions.