Days after the stunning announcement that Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss will return as Neo and Trinity in an all new Matrix film, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Academy-Award winning cinematographer John Toll is in negotiations to shoot the anticipated sequel. Toll will step into the role previously filled by Bill Pope, who shot the original Matrix trilogy as well as live-action sequences in the Enter the Matrix video game.
Toll is quite the replacement. A two-time Oscar winner for his stunning work on Legends of the Fall and Braveheart, Toll also photographed such acclaimed pics as The Thin Red Line (for which he received an Oscar nomination), Gone Baby Gone, Tropic Thunder, Iron Man 3, Almost Famous, and The Adjustment Bureau. He has a history with Matrix creators Lana and Lilly Wachowski, having worked with the duo on Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending.
Production on the film is scheduled to begin in early 2020, Wachowski co-wrote the script with Aleksander Hemon and David Mitchell, and will direct the film as well.
Plot details on the film haven’t been revealed, and given the ending of 2003’s The Matrix Revolutions it’s not a clear cut answer.
Earlier this year we asked our readers if they were interested in more movies in the series, with 69% of those voting saying “Yes!” In a secondary poll, 58% said they wanted to see a continuation of the series. Looks like they’ll be getting what they wanted!
The three previous films—The Matrix (1999), The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003)—have earned more than $1.6 billion at the global box office and were all top-10 domestic hits in their respective years of release. The Matrix Revolutions was also the first film ever to release simultaneously in every major country at the same hour around the world.
Special 20th-Anniversary screenings of The Matrix are being held at select AMC Theatres locations across the U.S., starting August 30.
