THE MATRIX – Fifteen Years On

Fifteen years – that’s how long it has been since The Matrix hit screens and helped change the face of cinema in the late ‘90s/early ‘00s. It gave us the Wachowskis, it gave us wire-fu, it gave us bullet time – it gave us cinematic hope. Then the sequels came along and ruined everything.

We probably forget how exciting The Matrix was in 1999 and how it helped shape action cinema (bullet time was everywhere). It still holds-up well.

It opened on 31 March 1999 in the US, grossing $27 million during its first weekend, topping out at $171 million ($463 million globally). That’s serious money now – and very serious money at the end of the last millennium.