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HBO Max Officially Revives ‘The Matrix’ Creators’ Failed Sci-Fi Franchise-Starter

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Few filmmakers have had luck as rotten as the Wachowskis. After breaking out with the culture-defining Matrix trilogy, the directors have struggled not only to match that level of critical acclaim but also to meet the significant commercial benchmarks they’d set. The Matrix trilogy grossed a combined total of around $1.5 billion worldwide and revitalized the sci-fi genre. However, the Wachowskis’ subsequent projects have all emerged as box-office underperformers. While Speed Racer has developed something of a cult following in the 18 years since its release, the same cannot be said about the Wachowskis’ mega-budget 2015 sci-fi fantasy, which recently saw a viewership spike on streaming.

The movie was headlined by Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum, with Eddie Redmayne delivering a villainous performance for the ages. The movie borrowed elements from fairy tales, and shares several similarities with the recently released Steven Spielberg sci-fi thriller Disclosure Day. Although Spielberg’s movie also relies heavily on animals, the Wachowskis’ epic curiously revolved around bees. Some would say that it was the insects’ finest hour in a big-budget Hollywood film, along with Nicolas Cage’s The Wicker Man and Dwayne Johnson’s Journey 2 the Mysterious Island.

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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz
Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive?
The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars

Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.

💊The Matrix

🔥Mad Max

🌧️Blade Runner

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🏜️Dune

🚀Star Wars

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01

You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do?
The first instinct is often the truest one.





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02

In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely?
What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.





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03

What kind of threat keeps you up at night?
Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.





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04

How do you deal with authority you don’t trust?
Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.





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05

Which environment could you actually endure long-term?
Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.





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06

Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart?
The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.





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07

Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all?
Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.





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08

What would actually make survival worth it?
Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.





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Your Fate Has Been Calculated
You’d Survive In…

Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.

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The Resistance, Zion

The Matrix

You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.

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  • You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
  • You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
  • You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
  • The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.


The Wasteland

Mad Max

The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.

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  • You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
  • You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
  • You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
  • In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.


Los Angeles, 2049

Blade Runner

You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.

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  • You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
  • In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
  • You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
  • In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.


Arrakis

Dune

Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.

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  • Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
  • You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
  • Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
  • In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.


A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Star Wars

The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

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  • You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
  • You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
  • You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
  • In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.

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The Matrix Franchise Is Being Rebooted by Drew Goddard

We’re talking, of course, about Jupiter Ascending. The epic space opera was produced on a reported budget of $210 million, but it grossed only around $185 million worldwide. It now holds a 27% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Pleasing to the eye but narratively befuddled, Jupiter Ascending delivers another visually thrilling misfire from the Wachowskis.” According to FlixPatrol, Jupiter Ascending was among the most-watched movies on the global HBO Max chart this week, when the leaderboard was topped by the recently released horror title Over My Dead Body. The Wachowskis only made one more feature film together — Cloud Atlas — before splitting up creatively. They also co-created the Netflix series Sense8 with J. Michael Straczynski. A fourth Matrix movie, titled The Matrix Resurrections, was directed solely by Lana Wachowski and released to divisive reviews and disappointing box-office results in 2021. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.


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Release Date
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February 6, 2015

Runtime

127 minutes

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Producers

Grant Hill

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