Matrix Resurrections, the fourth instalment in the Matrix franchise, has been cleared by China’s censors and will release in the country, according to The Hollywood Reporter. However, the Keanu Reeves-starrer is yet to get a release date for China.
Meanwhile, the film is set to release in theatres in the US and on HBO Max, on December 22.
The last Matrix film, The Matrix Revolutions (2003), was the first Hollywood film to have a theatrical opening in China, the THR report states.
Aside from Reeves, Matrix Resurrections features actors Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Christina Ricci.
Directed by Lana Wachowski, it is among the many Hollywood films that are awaiting release in China. Warner Brother’s Space Jam: A New Legacy and Reminiscence, Disney’s Ron’s Gone Wrong and Encanto, Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Paramount’s PAW Patrol and Clifford the Big Red Dog are all in the queue for approval from Chinese officials, according to a Variety report.
China provides the biggest consumer market for the entertainment industry. A release in the country makes a substantial difference to the global box-office collections of a film.
The Chinese film The Battle of Lake Changjin, that revolves around the soldiers of the People’s Volunteer Army during the Korean War, collected $888 million at the domestic box office with no releases outside of China. Even with its sole China release, it earned more than the global collections of big-banner Hollywood films like Fast and Furious 9 and No Time to Die, both of which collected over $700 million.
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Apart from the 25th James Bond film, only a few Hollywood films released in China this year. These included Disney’s Jungle Cruise and Dune. Both films were overshadowed by The Battle of Lake Changjin. While Warner Brother’s Dune garnered $21 million in its opening weekend in the country, Dwayne Johnson’s Jungle Cruise could only make $2 million.
The biggest losers, however, are Marvel films like Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Eternals, none of which have been able to secure a China release yet.
The upcoming Spider-Man No Way Home might end this streak and release in China given a second Chinese trailer for the film is out already, according to the Variety report.
But it remains to be seen how many of the aforementioned Hollywood films are able to penetrate the Chinese market.