Starting with a promise that the first official trailer will drop on Thursday, the promotional campaign for The Matrix Resurrections kicked into bullet-time on Tuesday with the launch of an interactive site that brings up some late 90s/early 2000s internet vibes that people are loving. By logging onto WhatIsTheMatrix.com, the original website for the first groundbreaking film, users are given the choice between a red and blue pill, which will give them a constantly-changing teaser from the highly anticipated fourth movie that reunites Keanu Reeves and Carrie Ann-Moss, along with adding newcomers Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Neil Patrick Harris, and Christina Ricci.
The choice is yours. Trailer Thursday at 6AM PT. Visit https://t.co/yX5qbqqNYC #TheMatrixMovie pic.twitter.com/Pme1Sn6lB2
— The Matrix Resurrections (@TheMatrixMovie) September 7, 2021
Via Variety:
In the context of the teaser, each choice presents users with two different angles on what appears to be the central story in “Resurrections” (as first teased to exhibitors during CinemaCon in August). Keanu Reeves’ Neo is back inside the Matrix, taking blue pills and seeing a therapist played by Neil Patrick Harris, until a man portrayed by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II steps into Neo’s life and gets him to see that his reality is just a mirage.
Judging by the reactions online, The Matrix fans are loving the old school marketing campaign, and, yes, it feels weird to call the online marketing campaign old school now. What even is reality anymore? Folks also loved the brief glimpses of brand new footage, and there were also several reactions to Reeves looking almost exactly like John Wick. Not that anyone’s complaining.
Shout out to the Matrix for being the first movie website I’ve clicked on in 10+ years. https://t.co/PHTB3XHJmI
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) September 7, 2021
I hope the Matrix goes full 2000s interactive marketing and makes us go on a literal scavenger hunt around a city to unlock every frame of the trailer
— Patrick Willems (@patrickhwillems) September 7, 2021
Leave it to Queen Lana Wachowski for THE MATRIX: RESURRECTIONS to give us a few seconds of footage and have it be more beautiful and visually interesting than the majority of blockbusters this decade. pic.twitter.com/x9ER8ZkxDH
— Brendan Hodges (@metaplexmovies) September 7, 2021
A coffee shop in The Matrix called “Simulatte”? That’s a good joke. pic.twitter.com/Gz4nmynp7M
— Esther Zuckerman (@ezwrites) September 7, 2021
https://twitter.com/Jamesotron/status/1435281878404067328
yo i'm getting turnt by a fuckin MOVIE MARKETING WEBSITE for THE MATRIX we about to party like it's 1999 https://t.co/OIZhlBlcoG
— Freddie Wong (@fwong) September 7, 2021
Yeah I’m thinking THE MATRIX is back pic.twitter.com/pZwN8c324R
— F♯A♯∞, fka ☕️ (@coopercooperco) September 7, 2021
The Matrix Resurrections hits theaters and HBO Max on December 22, 2021.
(Via Variety)