The fourth movie in “The Matrix” franchise has been moved up to Christmas 2021 as part of a shuffle of Warner Bros.’ tentpole movies that has also pushed back “The Batman” to 2022.
The untitled Matrix film will now open on December 22, 2021, after originally being slated for April 1, 2022. The film directed by Lana Wachowski had been filming with star Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in Germany.
Earlier on Monday, it was announced that “Dune,” directed by Denis Villeneuve, would move from Dec. 18, 2020 to October 1, 2021. That date was previously held by Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” starring Robert Pattinson, and it will now open on March 4, 2022.
Other DC movies, including “The Flash,” “Shazam! 2” and “Black Adam” have also shifted on the schedule. “The Flash,” starring Ezra Miller and directed by Andy Muschietti, will now move from June 3, 2022 to November 4, 2022. “Shazam! 2” starring Zachary Levi and directed by David Sandberg will move from Nov. 4, 2022 to June 2, 2023. And “Black Adam” starring Dwayne Johnson and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra has been removed from the calendar in search of a new date after it was meant to open December 22, 2021.
The “Minecraft” movie based on the popular video game, which does not yet have a director, was also slated for March 4, 2022, but is now also undated. Finally, two other untitled Warner Bros. event films will be released on June 3, 2022 and August 5, 2022, respectively.
“The Matrix” sequel also stars Jada Pinkett Smith as well as newcomers to the series Jonathan Groff, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Neil Patrick Harris and Priyanka Chopra.
Still remaining on the calendar for 2020 as of now is “Wonder Woman 1984,” which is opening in theaters on Christmas Day. The 2020 theatrical slate has been thrown up in the air over the weekend after the James Bond film “No Time To Die” moved out of a release in November 2020 to 2021. In response, Cineworld announced that it would be temporarily suspending operations at Regal Cinemas — with over 600 locations in the U.S. and the U.K. — prompting other studios to further pull movies from the remainder of 2020.