fbpx The Matrix at 25 | George Eastman Museum

Please note: The exhibition Erica Baum: the bite in the ribbon—a paper show is closed today due to technical issues in the gallery. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to reopen it as soon as possible.

The Matrix at 25

On the eve of the new millennium, a new science-fiction action film premiered that would change the genre, fashion, and the ubiquity of philosophical discussion forever. Buoyed by their script for the Sylvester Stallone film Assassins and their directing debut Bound, Lilly and Lana Wachowski were given a three-picture deal with Warner Bros. Their project? The Matrix. The plan for the film was too big, dense, and ambitious for studio executives to understand, so the directors hired comic book artists to create a 600-page shot-by-shot storyboard for the film that the studio still didn’t understand, but at least they could see what they were getting. The film became one of the biggest grossers of the year and spawned three sequels. Between Christmas and New Year’s, The Dryden is presenting the entire series on our big screen for the first time.

Events in this Series