It's plain to see, all these years later, that Neo kicked George Lucas' ass as The Matrix overshadowed Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
The year was 1999. Sixteen years had passed since Return of the Jedi hit theaters. Now George Lucas was back with Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, the first in a planned trilogy exploring the events leading up to 1977’s Star Wars. The hype was real. People flocked to shitty movies like Meet Joe Black to watch the teaser trailer. Posters depicting Anakin Skywalker flanked by Darth Vader’s shadow appeared around movie theaters.
My first view of The Matrix occurred during the Super Bowl. During a commercial break, we were hit with a brief glimpse at Keanu Reeves performing “Bullet Time,” people dressed in black leather, and the eternal question: What is the Matrix? Thus was born a hefty marketing campaign that compelled audiences to hand over their hard-earned money to journey down the rabbit hole. The world went gaga for The Matrix, and the movie built more hype throughout the year.
How much did people love The Matrix? My friends saw it at least a dozen times each—I’m not kidding. They had that movie memorized. Also, consider this: The Matrix opened to a decent $27M. Four years later, The Matrix Reloaded exploded out of the gate with $92M, a 240.741% increase over the first. People couldn’t wait to see more of Neo.
Don’t believe me? Look up any “Greatest Films of the 1990s” article and note how often The Phantom Menace appears. Rolling Stone left it off its Top 100 Films of the 90s list, a list that includes Billy Madison for cripe’s sake. The Matrix landed at No. 15. Phantom does emerge in articles detailing the most disappointing films ever. Ouch.
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