Matrix 4 to commence shooting in San Francisco next month

HN Entertainment and a local San Francisco neighborhood blog have both reported that a company called Adobe Pictures will be coming to the Financial District of the city to shoot action sequences for a movie codenamed “Project Ice Cream,” a feature film reportedly part of the Matrix series. The shoot is scheduled to take place from February 9th to March 1st, 2020. According to the report, there will be low-flying helicopters, drones, car chase scenes, “quarter-load” simulated gunfire, smoke and pyrotechnics.

There are some issues for me with this report. First off, the production companies attached to The Matrix 4 include NPV Entertainment, Silver Pictures, Village Roadshow and Warner Bros., all of which were connected to the production of the original trilogy. Additionally, it’s a bit of a stretch to think that Lana Wachowski – who is writing and directing the new project – who was only recently confirmed to even be working on The Matrix 4, is already prepping set pieces. I know that Warner Bros. should be absolutely chomping at the bit to get this movie in theaters, but this is a quick development track by most standards. The cast of the original trained for 1 year just to prepare for the hand-to-hand combat martial arts and gunplay sequences.

Then again, The Matrix – and its mysterious creators The Wachowskis (formerly The Wachowski brothers) – have always been shrouded in secrecy. Over the years there have been a myriad of rumors, false starts, hopes and dreams that this universe would be revisited. The original trilogy meant so much to so many people around the world. The first Matrix in particular ushered in a new era of science fiction filmmaking and glimpsed a promise of more diverse and realistically crafted fantasy universes. The movie continues to tug on real fears and deep philosophies about the world around us. It’s ambitious special effects permanently raised the bar so high, even the film wunderkinds who made it have not been able to reach anywhere near it since.

I hope this story is indeed true and that The Matrix 4 is everything that everyone is hoping it will be. Warner Bros. has pegged May 21st, 2021 as the release date, so if we have any chance of seeing Neo, Niobe, Trinity, Merovingian and a young Morpheus in bullet time on the big screen on that daste, this damn well better be true.

What we know for sure is that the cast of The Matrix 4 includes Keanu Reeves (Neo), Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity), Jada Pinkett Smith (Niobe), Jessica Henwick (Godzilla vs Kong, Iron Fist, Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Neil Patrick Harris (Starship Troopers, Gone Girl), Toby Onwumere (Empire TV Series), Eréndira Ibarra (Sense8), and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen, Aquaman).

Check out the trailer for the original The Matrix and hold your breath.

Have you ever had a dream that you were so sure was real? What if you couldn’t awaken? How would you know the difference between dream and reality? When a beautiful stranger (Carrie Ann Moss) leads computer hacker Neo (Keanu Reeves) to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth–the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence. Neo joins legendary and dangerous rebel warrior Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne) in the battle to destroy the illusion enslaving humanity. Now, every move, every second, every thought becomes a fight to stay alive-to escape The Matrix.