In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lana Wachowski and Warner Bros. are keeping their fingers crossed that production on the fourth Matrix film will resume shooting in July. The cast and crew had just finished four weeks of shooting in San Francisco before moving to Berlin in mid-March, and just as they were about to start filming, Miss Rona decided to act a damn fool, forcing the film, and all Hollywood productions to shut down filming.
Variety is reporting that the cast have signed an eight-week extension to their schedules, keeping them on retainer for additional shooting. The upcoming sequel sees Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss reprising their roles as Neo and Trinity, with Jada Pinkett-Smith also reprising her role as Niobe. Rounding out the cast are Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (rumored to be playing a young Morpheus), Neil Patrick Harris, Brian J. Smith, Toby Onwumere and Jonathan Groff.
The first three films — “The Matrix,” “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions” — which were written and directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski have earned more than $1.6 billion at the global box office. Lana co-wrote the new script with Aleksander Hemon and David Mitchell, and will direct the film as well.
As of right now Matrix 4 is still set for a May 21, 2021 release date, and before the pandemic, the film was scheduled to shoot for six months. If they end up starting in July, which I should point out is the date that many productions (like The Batman, another big-budget WB blockbuster that had started shooting before COVID shut them down) are hoping to start, and movie theaters are planning to reopen, the Matrix could be done by December or early January, Then they could spend four months in post in order to meet their deadline. John Wick 4 has already been postponed to 2022, so this gives Keanu plenty of time to work on the film, depending on how much screen time he has.
I am extremely hopeful that soon we can get back to some kind of normalcy, and I’m curious as to what precautions they will be taking to make sure the cast and crew won’t get sick. Tyler Perry had a pretty awesome idea on how he would get his cast and crew back to work at his 300+ acre studio, but when you’re shooting on location in a foreign country, it can get a bit tricky on how you can keep everyone safe.
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