How Enter The Matrix And The Animatrix Helped Create The Modern Cinematic Universe
To mark the 20th anniversary of Enter the Matrix, we take a look back at the ambitious narrative tie-in game and how it presaged modern connected cinematic universes.
By Justin Clark on
Enter the Matrix is celebrating its 20-year anniversary today, May 14, 2023. Below, we take a look at how the game broke new ground for interconnected, cross-media storytelling.
Nearly 25 years later, the original Matrix's legacy as a stone-cold classic film is secure. Arguably, it was pretty much a done deal the second Neo flew off into orbit while Rage Against The Machine did their thing. Everything about action films changed afterwards, from the way fights were choreographed to the way it opened the door for action movies with loftier ideas. But while the legacy of the original film is undeniable, and more prescient than ever--for both good and ill, given how its iconography’s been co-opted in recent years--we don't often talk about the legacy of The Matrix Reloaded in the same hallowed tones. It's understandable to an extent. Everything audiences thought was cool about the original Matrix in 1999 had been stripmined for parts by a legion of movies immediately after, with diminishing returns every single time. Given carte blanche to avoid their creation from treading the same ground, Lana and Lilly Wachowski chose to expand the universe they created in ways that resembled an Eastern philosophy-flavored Star Trek more than, say, Blade or Underworld.
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