When you consider that the original franchise trilogy did about $1.6 billion in theatrical receipts alone, it really is kind of surprising that the property has remained dormant as long as it has. Or perhaps not, when you look at what happened. The “original” film captured a lot of attention and had a strong $425 million worldwide debut back in 1999 and created a generation of fans. The sequel landed with a $742 million worldwide take that got people riding high on its success, though it was less well received critically. Which lead to the third installment dropping back down to the mid $400 million range. That would make folks gun shy.
For a little while.
THR is now reporting that Warner Bros. is looking to resurrect the franchise with a reboot of the original film with Zak Penn being approached for a treatment and apparently and eye on Michael B. Jordan for the lead. That’s a lot for something that’s in the early stages so we expect a lot of changes if it does get off the ground and more people with their own visions get into the mix.
Not surprising is that, at least the moment, the Wachowski’s aren’t involved, at least publicly. They’re both dealing with Sense8 and its very complicated production and what they’re trying to do to prep for more.
Conceptually, there’s not much out there yet, but the idea of Michael B. Jordan taking on the role of a young Morpheus as a way to approach the reboot through new eyes and perspective, expanding on what’s there and opening the world up more, is definitely interesting. Shared universes are obviously the big thing and there’s plenty of potential here even if a lot of people will naturally/rightly roll their eyes at this.
