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'The Matrix' Reboot: It's Finally Happened. Hollywood Has Run Out of All the Ideas (qz.com)

An anonymous reader shares a Quartz report: In our hearts, we all knew this day would come. Warner Bros. is planning a reboot of The Matrix just 18 years after the iconic sci-fi action film dazzled audiences around the world, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The Matrix films were lauded for their creativity, special effects, and distinct cyberpunk and manga influences. In total, the trilogy grossed over $1.6 billion worldwide. The Matrix will join other famous film properties -- Star Wars, Godzilla, Planet of the Apes, and Terminator among them -- receiving a recent franchise reboot or "reimagining." Others include RoboCop, Star Trek, Ghostbusters, and Jurassic Park. Meanwhile, reboots of Indiana Jones, Predator, Jumanji, and every superhero movie that's ever existed, are scheduled to hit theaters soon. And TV, for its part, is a dystopian wasteland of bland prequels to famous action movies. Hollywood relying on tentpole franchises, instead of taking risks on original ideas, is not new or surprising. But many believed that certain properties like The Matrix were off limits -- at least so soon after originally being made. It's clear now, though, that the major film studios can't afford to wait. They have no other ideas. This puts the studios in a precarious situation, because the once tried-and-true strategy of inundating cinemas with popular franchise extensions no longer looks as foolproof as it used to.

7 of 542 comments (clear)

  1. In their defense... by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 5, Informative

    As I understand it, it isn't a reboot per se. Rather, it will be another story set in "The Matrix Universe." So rather than the story of the Nebuchadnezzar, it will center on the crew of, say, the Ganesha. Make it a prequel.

    Think something like "Star Wars: Rogue One" or something similar.

  2. Film_s_? by mwvdlee · · Score: 3, Informative

    Films? There is only one Matrix film. There were never any sequels.

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  3. Re:This just in: slashdotters are OLD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Akira Kurosawa's name is not Rashomon, he made a movie by that name as well as the Seven Samurai.

  4. There can only be one response. Get a Rope by TiggertheMad · · Score: 3, Informative

    Whoa.

    LOL, brilliant. This is a terribly written article, for the simple reason that it fails to identify if the studios are doing a remake, a reboot, or simply adding more stories in the same 'Wachowskverse'. Remakes are usually dimwitted rewrites of old classics, (I challenge anyone here to name a remake that was better than the original.) while adding more stories occasionally yields real gems like Aliens, Empire Strikes Back, and T2. Reboots are somewhere in between where an existing IP is rewritten and started over again, such as thee fucking mess that Sony has been making of the Spider-man franchise for the better part of twenty years now. I might be willing to watch more new stories set in the same world, but I really don't need to see a new Neo movie.

    Look Hollywood, if you aren't going to try to write new stories about new IP, at least write new stories about old IP rather than remake and reboot the same old stuff over and over again. We are bored with the same story over and over again.

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    1. Re:There can only be one response. Get a Rope by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 4, Informative

      > (I challenge anyone here to name a remake^H^H^H^H^H^H regurgitation that was better than the original.)

      FTFY.

      /sarcasm You mean the new Ghostbusters -- that NO one asked for -- was better then the original? **snicker**

      Oh wait, I _actually_ have a legitimate remake that isn't shit. Challenge accepted!

      Robin Hood.

      I mean, one of the eleven remakes has to be better then the original 1912 version, right? :-)

      • Robin Hood (1912)
      • Robin Hood (1935)
      • The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
      • The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1948)
      • The Prince of Thieves (1948)
      • The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952)
      • Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960)
      • Walt Disney's Robin Hood (1973)
      • Robin Hood: The Movie (1991)
      • Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
      • Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
      • Robin Hood (2010)

      But yeah, I agree with you 99%. I'm tired of film re-cash-grabs

      Instead of reboots / reimaging / remakes / reimagining -- we should call them for what they are:

      Regurgitation

  5. Re:Leave the original by Mike+Van+Pelt · · Score: 4, Informative

    There was a 2 and 3? Non sense. Why not sequels of Starship Troopers while you are at it!

    If ever there was a movie needing re-imaging ... Starship Troopers. I take that back, moving closer to the book (power suits) is not quite re-imagining is it?

    There actually is a new Starship Troopers movie in the works, apparently. The makers are saying they're ignoring Ve'ereHeavin's abhomination, and going back to the book.
    http://www.hollywoodreporter.c...

  6. Re:Leave the original by dbIII · · Score: 4, Informative

    Could it possibly be because of rampant nepotism

    Yes. One of many examples is that soon after Terry Gilliam was given the job of directing the first Harry Potter movie an exec suddenly found out how popular the series was, sacked Gilliam and gave it to his friend Chris Columbus.