In a hugely fortunate coincidence, when Keanu Reeves agreed to star in the fourth installments of two of his most popular franchises, both Lionsgate and Warner Bros. had the exact same idea in regards to handing out release dates to The Matrix 4 and John Wick: Chapter 4. That day was May 22nd, 2021, and the internet instantly latched on to the idea of an entire day celebrating one of their biggest heroes, and you can guarantee that a lot of Keanu enthusiasts would have bought tickets for both and watched them one after the other.
Of course, COVID-19 had other ideas, pushing the projects back significantly. In fact, Chapter 4 hasn’t even started shooting yet, but cameras are set to start rolling in just a few weeks, with the return of the master assassin penciled in for May 27th of next year instead.
As for his long-awaited comeback as Neo eighteen years after Revolutions, The Matrix 4 will debut simultaneously on the big screen and HBO Max on December 22nd, and if the box office has returned to something resembling full strength by then, it should pull in some solid numbers given the leading man’s popularity, name value of the brand and the holiday season always being a lucrative time of year.
If The Matrix 4 turns out to be a hit and reinvents the series to a significant degree, then maybe the two studios can works something out and give Keanu Reeves Day another shot when it comes to the fifth entries. It might not be getting filmed back-to-back anymore, but John Wick: Chapter 5 has already been given the green light, so it’s all on Neo to ensure that maybe, just maybe, the people will receive what they want eventually.