FILM · 2003 · USA
The Matrix Reloaded
- Directed by
- Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
- Runtime
- 138 min
- Studio
- Village Roadshow Pictures, Silver Pictures, NPV Entertainment
125 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
The Resistance builds in numbers as humans are freed from the Matrix and brought to the city of Zion. Neo discovers his superpowers, including the ability to see the code inside the Matrix. With machine sentinels digging to Zion in 72 hours, Neo, Morpheus and Trinity must find the Keymaker to ultimately reach the Source.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (125)
- #001
The fight scene in which Neo takes on Smith and his clones (also known as The Burly Brawl) took 27 days to shoot.
- #002
The contract the Wachowskis signed for The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003) included a clause stating they would not have to give any media interviews.
- #003
About 97 percent of the materials on the film's sets were recycled after shooting. For example, tons of lumber were sent to Mexico to build housing for low-income people.
- #004
The role of Seraph was written specifically for Jet Li. Jet Li reportedly asked for the same fee Keanu Reeves was paid to make the film. The role was later changed to a woman and offered to Michelle Yeoh, who turned it down because of scheduling conflicts.
- #005
GM donated 300 cars for use in the film's production. In the end, all 300 were destroyed.
- #006
Learning the Scorpion Kick for the opening scene required Carrie-Anne Moss to practice for six months.
- #007
The film's highway chase scene took nearly three months to shoot (longer than the entire shooting schedule of many films). It was filmed at the closed Alameda Naval Air Station (Latitude 37°47'26.69"N Longitude 122°19'8.08"W). The main East and West runways and parts of other runways were partially repaved and striped as a limited-access highway complete with on- and off-ramps. "Sound barrier" walls restricted sightlines and made it easier to insert the CGI silhouette. Satellite and aerial images still show the remains of the highway, but this is very clear to a viewer looking at past imagery (around October 2002).
- #008
The special effects cost 100 million dollars.
- #009
Gloria Foster (The Oracle) died before filming on the second Matrix film was finished. She had completed most of her scenes for that film, but none for the third film, The Matrix Revolutions (2003), or for Enter the Matrix (2003). Mary Alice was cast in her place.
- #010
Sir Sean Connery was initially cast to play the Architect but turned down the offer because he could not understand the film's concept. Connery mentions this in an interview on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) DVD.
- #011
Trinity uses a real hack to get into the computers at the power plant. She uses version 2.54BETA25 of Nmap, a real port-scanning tool used by both network administrators and hackers to find a vulnerable SSH server, and then goes on to exploit that server using the 2001 SSH1 CRC32 exploit.
- #012
In an interview on the Team Deakins podcast in the summer of 2020, the cinematographer of The Matrix trilogy described working on the sequels as a negative experience, saying: "Everything that was good in the first experience was not good in the last two. We weren't free anymore. People were looking at you. There was a lot of pressure. In my heart, I didn't like them. I felt we should have gone in another direction. There was a lot of friction and a lot of personal problems, and that, honestly, showed up on screen. It wasn't my most exciting moment, nor anyone else's. The Wachowskis had read that damn Stanley Kubrick book: 'Actors can't give natural performances until you wear them down.' So let's take 90! I want to dig up Stanley Kubrick and kill him."
- #013
Laurence Fishburne, Jada Pinkett Smith and Anthony Brandon Wong signed on to the film without reading the script.
- #014
There were numerous injuries on set: Carrie-Anne Moss broke her leg during wire training, Laurence Fishburne broke his arm in another training incident, and Hugo Weaving herniated a disc in his neck while being pulled back on a wire.
- #015
When the Merovingian swears in French, he says: "Nom de Dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperie de connard d'enculé de ta mère." This is simply a string of curses strung together and means "Goddamn Whore Filthy Shithouse Jerk Bugger of your mother."
- #016
Keanu Reeves reportedly volunteered to give up his claim to a share of ticket sales amounting to about 38 million dollars after the producers feared they would never be able to cover the film's special effects costs.
- #017
Grossing more than 735 million dollars in worldwide ticket revenue, the film was the most commercially successful R-rated film of its time. (In some countries, however, it was given a less restrictive PG-13 equivalent rating.) In North America, it overtook Beverly Hills Cop (1984), the nineteen-year record holder as the highest-grossing R-rated release, but less than a year later it would be overtaken by The Passion of the Christ (2004).
- #018
The ship known as the Hammer is labeled (and in fact named) Mjolnir, a name that is difficult to pronounce. This explains why no one calls it by its real name. Mjolnir is the name of the famous hammer of Thor, the Norse god of thunder.
- #019
When Smith pulls up next to an Audi at the beginning of the film, its license plate is IS 5416. In the King James Bible, Isaiah 54:16 says: "Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy."
- #020
A 1.4-mile, three-lane highway was built specifically for the chase scene at the decommissioned Alameda Point Naval Air Station. It was demolished once filming was completed.
- #021
The Zion rave scene featured more than 1,000 extras.
- #022
Martial arts training for the lead actors began in November 2000 and lasted eight months.
- #023
Marcus Chong was set to return as Tank from the first film, but after a bitter dispute with the Wachowskis and the studio his role was written out and the character was killed off-screen. Officially, he was not asked back because salary negotiations between Chong and the studio broke down (he was offered $250,000 to do both sequels, five times what he was paid for the original, but he demanded $1 million). Chong, however, sued the company for failing to honor the verbal promise and written contract he had for the sequels. He later claimed the Wachowskis deliberately made false statements about him in an attempt to defame him, which led to him being blacklisted in Hollywood. The studio countered that after the failed salary negotiations Chong was arrested for making threats against the directors. In 2018 Chong released a documentary on YouTube titled 'The Marcus Chong Story', in which he made further accusations against the studio and his former colleagues on the film (for example, that they denied him royalties, forced him to sign a fake contract and even tried to silence him).
- #024
The inspiration for the transition effect on the Twins was jellyfish.
- #025
The idea that all programs are born from the Source, an entity made of pure light, and return there once their purpose is fulfilled is a philosophy drawn from the Hindu belief in Brahma, a god made of pure life energy in Hindu mythology. This god created everything, and it is humanity's destiny to return to Brahmand once its fate is fulfilled.
- #026
Zion's fleet has twelve hovercraft, ten of which are shown or mentioned in the films and the video game Enter the Matrix (2003), with the following names and captains: Osiris - Thadeus; Logos - Niobe; Nebuchadnezzar (Neb) - Morpheus; Mjolnir (Hammer) - Roland; Caduceus - Ballard; Gnosis - Buz; Vigilant - Soren; Icarus - Ajax; Brahma - Kali; Novalis - Tirant. The names of the remaining two ships appear in concept art: Ganesha and Vishnu.
- #027
Carrie-Anne Moss did some of her own motorcycle riding in the highway scene.
- #028
Samsung produced 10,000 cell phones resembling the one seen in the film (model SPH-N270), which quickly sold out.
- #029
During Neo's encounter with the Architect, if you can use subtitles you can see that Neo's other personalities on the screens shout the following: "You can't control me!" "I'm going to smash you to bits!" "I'm going to fucking kill you!" "You can't make me do anything you old white prick!"
- #030
Pre-production on the two films took one year, shooting took one year, and post-production on both films then took one year.
- #031
The monitors seen in the Architect's room are exactly the same as those seen in The Matrix (1999) when the agents capture Neo for interrogation and plant a bug in him.
- #032
In the burly brawl, Neo ultimately fights more than eighty Agent Smiths.
- #033
The Matrix Reloaded is the highest-grossing film in the series.
- #034
Laurence Fishburne suggested that his character remove his sunglasses while fighting the agent on the tractor-trailer, to remind the audience of Morpheus's fight with Agent Smith in The Matrix (1999), during which he was not wearing sunglasses, and to better express the character's vulnerability.
- #035
In the original theatrical release of The Matrix Reloaded (2003), most of the signs during the highway chase carried eight-character hexadecimal codes instead of their real content, as shown in later theatrical versions and on home video. These hexadecimal codes were the cheat codes for the companion game Enter the Matrix. That game has a hacking mini-game in which these codes are combined with the "cheat" command to enable cheats.
- #036
Contains a major spoiler — show
When Morpheus's ship the Nebuchadnezzar is destroyed, the line "I had a dream, but now the dream is gone from me." is a reference to the Book of Daniel (Daniel 2:3), in which King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream about a golden statue that Daniel interprets for him. In this context, Morpheus is the prophet who guides the ship Nebuchadnezzar. It is interesting to note that Morpheus is the name of the Greek god of dreams, who changed dreams (literally "forms"). Combined with information from Enter the Matrix, it is possible that Morpheus's real name is Daniel.
- #037
The password Trinity uses when she hacks the computer at the Power Station is Z1ON0101.
- #038
The camera pan over Megacity that opens the highway chase took more than a year to complete, because nearly every element other than the highway itself had to be computer-generated.
- #039
Many of the textured surfaces that appear expensive, such as the marble floors and columns, were actually printed on grand-format printers with a scratch- and UV-resistant coating. A number of backlit surfaces, such as the amber elements in the Merovingian's restaurant, were also printed, but onto a translucent material.
- #040
The Merovingians were the first royal dynasty of France and were said to be descendants of Jesus Christ. The name also refers to a type of Gnostic Church (many elements of Gnosticism appear in the Matrix films).
- #041
When Neo confronts the Architect, the Architect tells him that "(the perfect Matrix's) doom is apparent to me now as a consequence of the imperfection inherent in every human being." During these two lines, the images flashing on the monitor screens include Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Adolf Hitler, the explosion of the nuclear bomb, Saddam Hussein, George W. Bush and United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
- #042
In an interview, Helmut Bakaitis revealed that his inspiration for the Architect's voice was Orson Welles.
- #043
Contains a major spoiler — show
The multiple Neos seen on the monitors during the Architect sequence are not, as might be assumed, his predecessors (previous incarnations of the One) whose reactions were recorded during their visit to the Source. According to the shooting script, they represent Neo's different possible response options as the camera follows the actual outcome. This ties into the Architect's explanation that free choice is necessary for humans, a theme echoed in this film and in The Matrix Revolutions (2003), and a concept the machines struggle to understand as they live through causality.
- #044
Gina Torres plays Cas, the widow of Dozer (Anthony Ray Parker), one of Morpheus's (Laurence Fishburne) crew members in The Matrix (1999). Torres and Fishburne were married at the time the film was shot.
- #045
Promotional material for The Matrix Reloaded (2003) was in such high demand that distributors were extremely worried about it being stolen. To counter this, stands and banners were shipped under the code names "Caddyshack 2" and "The Replacements." Some cinemas, thinking they had not received the materials because of these names, did not put the film into release until the last minute.
- #046
Some unusual sound effects were used while Neo fights the Smith clones (the Burly Brawl). When Neo is kicked and flies through the group of Smiths, knocking them over, the sound of falling dominoes was used. At the end of the fight, when Neo throws Smith by the leg into his clones, the sound of a bowling ball hitting pins was used.
- #047
According to a DVD feature, among all the statements spoken by Neo's monitors are "You can't control me!", "I can say whatever I want!", "FUCKING DICK!", "I'll smash you to fucking bits!", "I'll fucking kill you!", "You old, white, prick!", "You can't make me do that!", "FUCK YOU!" and similar phrases. This gave the film five f-words, including one spoken in French.
- #048
According to Oakland city officials who worked with the filmmakers during the shoot in downtown Oakland, all red and blue colors had to be removed, so the sidewalk curbs were painted. There also could be no greenery or other plant life, so filming took place in the winter months, before the tree leaves sprouted in spring.
- #049
The red chair Morpheus sits in while explaining his plan to reach the Source is the same red chair he sat in in The Matrix (1999) when he offered Neo the red and blue pills and explained to Neo what the Matrix is.
- #050
The Matrix Revolutions (2003) and this film were shot back to back.
- #051
The side of the tractor trailer used in the highway chase scene reads "Big Endian Eggs." This is a reference to Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels: because the Lilliputians were so small, they correspondingly had small political problems. The Big-Endian and Little-Endian parties argued over whether soft-boiled eggs should be opened at the big end or the small end (Big-endian has also been adopted as computer terminology).
- #052
The key of the opening theme heard at the start of every Matrix film (soaring strings and horns) rises with each film. The Matrix (1999) begins in the key of E minor, The Matrix Reloaded (2003) rises a full step to F-sharp minor, and The Matrix Revolutions (2003) rises a half step to the key of G minor.
- #053
It entered the Guinness Book of Records as the Widest Film Release, meaning 8,517 copies were shipped simultaneously.
- #054
There are four computer-animated shots during the Burly Brawl.
- #055
It was initially banned in Egypt because of the film's religious themes, but it was later released after approval from the censorship bureau.
- #056
The code name for the film's script (while in production) was "The Burly Man." Burly Man is the name of the screenplay Barton Fink works on in the film Barton Fink (1991). While shooting the highway scene, the directors watched the commotion from a vehicle the crew called the "Burly Van."
- #057
The character we know as "The Kid" actually bears the name "Michael Karl Popper," as revealed in The Animatrix (2003). Karl Popper was a famous twentieth-century philosopher who worked especially on the nature of free will and the relationship of mind and choice to physical domains.
- #058
The Wachowskis cast Monica Bellucci as Persephone after seeing her performance in Malena (2000).
- #059
The production spent sixty days in San Francisco. Forty-eight of those days were devoted solely to shooting the highway scene.
- #060
The gun Persephone uses is a COP.357. It was also used by the Replicant Leon Kowalski (Brion James) in Blade Runner (1982).
- #061
When the Keymaker explains to Neo how to reach the Architect, he says they must disable 27 power blocks and that they will have exactly 314 seconds before the power begins to be rerouted. In the Bible, verse 14 of chapter 3 of the 27th book of the New Testament (Revelation) speaks of witnessing the source of creation (the Architect in The Matrix).
- #062
After first choice Aaliyah died in a plane crash on 25 August 2001, Eva Mendes, Samantha Mumba, Brandy Norwood and Tatyana Ali were said to be possible replacements for the character Zee. Nona Gaye (daughter of Motown legend Marvin Gaye) was ultimately cast in the role.
- #063
When Neo and Smith first meet, there is white graffiti on the fence behind them. The graffiti is written in runes and spells "thew" (thorn, eoh, wynn). "Thew" is Old English and means servant or slave, which ties into the film's theme.
- #064
To prepare for his role in the series, Keanu Reeves was asked to read three books: Simulacra and Simulation, Out of Control and Evolutionary Psychology. The hollowed-out book in which pre-Matrix Neo stores his hacked programs was a copy of Simulacra and Simulation.
- #065
The Merovingian takes his name from a dynasty that ruled the Franks (in what are now southern and central France and Germany) for roughly three hundred years, from 486 to 751. The name translates as "sons of Merovech," the dynasty's founder, and they are said to be descended from the claimed child of Jesus of Nazareth with Mary Magdalene, who fled to France after the Crucifixion. The Merovingian kings are known for halting Islamic conquests in their lands in Central and Eastern Europe. The dynasty was ended by the Pope, who ordered the deposition of its rulers and the installation of a new ruler from a different lineage.
- #066
Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski were offered the chance to direct Batman Begins (2005), but they turned it down to make the Matrix sequels.
- #067
The hair and makeup department used 84 bottles of hair gel during filming.
- #068
Lambert Wilson exaggerated his French accent considerably for the role of the Merovingian, because his natural accent is closer to American and, due to being raised speaking both English and French, parts of a French accent are clearly evident.
- #069
For the Burly Brawl scene (Neo against several dozen Agent Smiths), the live-action shots were filmed in eighteen-second intervals to change camera angles and capture the more than 250 moves Neo had to perform. Some parts of the fight were so complex that they were created entirely digitally, with computer-generated versions of Neo and the Smith clones; for this, footage of Keanu Reeves and Hugo Weaving was scanned by the visual effects team on Sony HDR-900 High Definition cameras. Some of these shots were criticized for looking obviously fake, but fans actually found an in-universe explanation for it: since both Neo and the Smith clones are extremely powerful programs performing incredibly complex movements, their code could occupy so much virtual data space that even the Matrix program cannot render it realistically (similar to how video games can run more slowly when the graphical output exceeds what the console's processor can handle). This theory is not too far-fetched, because in The Matrix (1999) it was confirmed that the Matrix can visibly glitch when a program is altered while it is running.
- #070
The cinematographer appears as a security guard who is paid to count sheep.
- #071
There are eighteen Cadillacs from different time periods in the Merovingian's garage. These were supplied through the New South Wales Cadillac Association, and because Australia is a right-hand-drive country, most of the cars had fake steering wheels fitted while the original steering wheel was covered up.
- #072
In the car chase scene, just before entering the highway, the word "steak" is visible on a building in the background. "Steak" was the password given at the end of the first film's credits.
- #073
Among the bonus features on the home media release are the directors working with Keanu Reeves and his responses to the Architect, which appear on the monitors in the background of that scene. One of these takes is a long thirty-second rant so disrespectful that it is almost entirely replaced by censorship bleeps.
- #074
The tie-in video game Enter the Matrix contains a live-action scene identical to Reloaded, in which Monica Bellucci's Persephone agrees to help only after being met with a passionate kiss; except that the recipient is Jada Pinkett Smith's Niobe rather than Neo. Just as in the film, Persephone requires two attempts to be satisfied.
- #075
In the Oracle and Neo's first meeting in the city park, Neo offers her a red licorice candy. After some argument, Neo takes it, and then the Oracle unwraps a piece of her own red candy for herself. If you watch closely for just a few frames, you see that she has a red capsule in her hand and brings it to her mouth.
- #076
When Neo and Smith meet face to face for the first time, a lighting panel is clearly visible and its reflection shows in Smith's glasses. Notably, this is the only instance of it in a film in which many characters wear sunglasses throughout the trilogy.
- #077
Total Film magazine said the film contains "the worst line ever delivered in a mainstream Hollywood film." The line is: "Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of The Matrix."
- #078
The credits list 1,943 names.
- #079
Jada Pinkett Smith had previously auditioned for the role of Trinity in The Matrix (1999).
- #080
It was Gloria Foster's last film.
- #081
Apart from the highway chase and the Burly Brawl, which were shot in California, the film was mostly shot at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia.
- #082
The Burly Brawl lasts nine minutes on screen and involved three and a half years of post-production work.
- #083
Some screenings used professional Taekwondo instructors, among them WTF silver medalist Master Timothy Connelly.
- #084
Rob Dougan composed his section of the soundtrack, "Chateau," at his home in London without access to video editing software. To check whether the music synced with the temporary version of the scene, he would start the track on his laptop and simultaneously hit "play" on the DVD player with his foot. Once the track was composed, the instrumental parts were to be recorded by the film's orchestra in Los Angeles. Dougan, who had no connections in the city but did not want series composer Don Davis's style to dominate the piece, eventually convinced the directors to let a friend orchestrate and conduct the performance.
- #085
The effects team held "try-outs," where other effects companies could demonstrate any new technology that might be useful for shooting the film, particularly the highway chase. As with the previous film, the Wachowskis had a clear vision of how the sequence should look, but the tools needed to shoot it did not necessarily exist yet.
- #086
For the highway chase scene, Carrie-Anne Moss had to perform a stunt while driving a modified Cadillac, braking into a "sliding 90" in which the car slides sideways directly toward the camera. To do this, she had to perform a move called the Juicy Lift, a complex maneuver she learned at stunt driving school that involves pulling the handbrake and turning the steering wheel in just the right way. She did it in a single continuous shot.
- #087
There are many references to the number 101.
- #088
The film's code name was "The Burly Man," the title of the first script the Wachowskis developed for Four Corners Productions.
- #089
The first choice for shooting the highway chase scene was a highway in Akron, Ohio, but the crew decided not to shoot there because the weather was snowy and very cold.
- #090
The model maker of the Nebuchadnezzar put the initials of its name on the rear details of the ship. They are hard to see clearly, but when the ship enters the dock in Zion the rear of the ship fills the frame. Look at the upper left corner for a stylized JHD and the upper right corner for a mirrored version.
- #091
Monica Bellucci and Keanu Reeves had previously appeared together in Dracula (1992).
- #092
Jada Pinkett Smith was nine months pregnant when she got a call from her manager informing her that she was being considered for roles in films.
- #093
During the highway chase, the police radio officer calls "1-Adam-12, please respond." (about a minute later). This was the call sign of the police cruiser in the television series Adam-12 (1968).
- #094
Contains a major spoiler — show
In Neo's conversation with the Architect, it is revealed that Neo is in the sixth iteration of the Matrix and is the sixth version of the anomaly. Another way of referring to him, therefore, would be to say he is "Number 6." The Wachowskis are known to be fans of the TV series The Prisoner (1967) (there is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it nod to the series in the first film). The series' main character, who valued individuality and fought the system, was known as Number 6. Fans of the series will notice an even deeper connection between the two numbers, but that would spoil the ending of a different game.
- #095
Seraph states that he protects what matters most. The character is probably a metaphor for computer firewalls, implied by the name Seraph, a shortened form of seraphim, a kind of fiery or passionate angel. This fits the series' religious and techno allegory; it also fits the Alice in Wonderland motif, because before meeting the Caterpillar (the Oracle), the animals in Wonderland look at Alice as too big and throw cakes at her to keep her away, just as Seraph fights Neo to keep him away.
- #096
The book Persephone moves to open the library is Arthur Schopenhauer's "Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung." The book immediately to its left is also by Schopenhauer, "Parerga and Paralipomena."
- #097
Because the twins' Cadillac Escalade EXT was not yet in production during filming, General Motors had to combine fiberglass Cadillac parts with prototype Chevrolet Avalanche trucks to create the black truck seen in the highway chase. The Lincoln Continental from The Matrix (1999) makes a brief cameo near the start of the film. The underground garage where the characters choose a car is filled almost entirely with Cadillacs. The row nearest the door, in order of age, holds a '37 Model 60 V8, then two '57 Eldorado Biarritzes, one black coupe and one silver convertible, a '63 Eldorado, a '66 Eldorado (the '63 and '66 Eldorados were convertibles only, with no hardtop), '69 and '71 Eldorado Cabrios, the aforementioned EXT and a pre-production 2004 XLR. The second row includes a 1933 LaSalle Model 345C, identifiable from a shot in the first row's fight scene. The remaining cars in the second row are harder to identify. There are three DeVilles, definitely a '70 and a '76 and possibly a '73, an '81-'84 Sedan DeVille or Fleetwood, and possibly a late-'90s Catera.
- #098
Commander Lock is the only rebel with a name in the real world, though it can also be assumed that Thomas Anderson is Neo's real name.
- #099
The highway exit sign passed during the highway chase (the sign listing Whipple Ave., Woodside Rd. and Marsh Rd.) is the same sign you would pass in real life on U.S. Highway 101 if you had just left Oracle Corporation's headquarters and were heading south.
- #100
Contains a major spoiler — show
The film takes place six months after The Matrix (1999). Meanwhile, The Matrix Reloaded (2003) was released six months before The Matrix Revolutions (2003).
- #101
Keanu Reeves reported earning 156 million dollars from the first two Matrix sequels.
- #102
Juno Reactor's "Mona Lisa Overdrive" appears on the soundtrack. That is also the title of author William Gibson's novel following his earlier work "Neuromancer." The Matrix concept was heavily influenced by his work. Gibson also wrote the story for the film "Johnny Mnemonic," which also starred Keanu Reeves.
- #103
The film the servants watch in the background is Brides of Dracula (1960). Monica Bellucci played one of Dracula's brides in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).
- #104
During the highway chase, one of the exits leads to a place called Paterson Pass (a road located between Livermore and Tracy, California, east of the Alameda highway production site, off Interstate 5). This was a nod to production designer Owen Paterson.
- #105
Lara Dutta was offered a role in this film and in The Matrix Revolutions (2003), but she turned it down because she did not like the script.
- #106
The scissor-like weapons used by the twins are actually old-fashioned, straight-edged razor blades.
- #107
After Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), it became the third sequel in history to gross over 700 million dollars worldwide.
- #108
Michelle Yeoh was offered the role of The Seraph but declined due to a scheduling conflict.
- #109
Following the continuing title sequence, a teaser for the next film in the series, The Matrix Revolutions, appears.
- #110
In the fight with three agents at the start of the film, Neo kicks one of the agents into a lamp post, a reference to Geofrey Darrow, the conceptual designer of the Matrix films, of Darrow Industries.
- #111
The pen in the Architect's hand is a Lamy Swift rollerball pen.
- #112
Although it was shot in Super 35, "Filmed in Panavision" is listed in the end credits.
- #113
Adjusted for inflation, this is the third highest-grossing R-rated action film in domestic box office revenue, after Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
- #114
This was Genevieve O'Reilly's first film.
- #115
In the highway scene, which places the metropolis in the background and the highway in the foreground, a sign lists Whipple Avenue, Woodside Road and Marsh Road as highway exits. Since the highway and most of the filming locations were in Oakland and Alameda, the exits are actually those leading to Redwood City across the Bay, opposite the filming locations, off Highway 101. All the exits are in exactly the same order as on Highway 101, leading to or near Oracle's headquarters. Whipple is the exit for Redwood Shores and Redwood City closest to San Carlos, and Marsh Road is the exit for the same cities closest to Atherton, on the border between Redwood City and North Fair Oaks.
- #116
Harry Lennix and Laurence Fishburne would go on to appear in Man of Steel (2013) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). Lennix as General Swanwick and Fishburne as Perry White.
- #117
Da Brat auditioned for the role of Zee.
- #118
Monica Bellucci would later take the small role of Lucia, the widow of the criminal Marco Sciarra, a member of the SPECTER organization, in Spectre (2015). Persephone (Bellucci) is the wife of the Merovingian, a program living in the Matrix as the leader of a powerful criminal organization, and she willingly betrays the Merovingian and helps Neo, Morpheus and Trinity reach the Keymaker.
- #119
It was the highest-grossing R-rated film worldwide until Deadpool (2016) surpassed it.
- #120
It grossed 166 million dollars worldwide in its opening weekend, the third-biggest global opening in history at the time after The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) (190 million dollars) and Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) (179 million dollars).
- #121
It was the fourth R-rated film in history to gross over 200 million dollars domestically, after Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).
- #122
It grossed 92 million dollars domestically in its opening weekend, which was then the second-biggest opening weekend gross in history after Spider-Man (2002) with 115 million dollars. It was also the biggest opening weekend for an R-rated film, beating Hannibal (2001) with 58 million dollars, and it held that record for more than a decade until Deadpool (2016) finally surpassed it with 132 million dollars.
- #123
The Burly Brawl scene cost 30-40 million dollars to produce.
- #124
At the time of its release, it was Warner Bros.' third highest-grossing film worldwide, after Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).
- #125
Each of the lead actors reprised their role in the tie-in video game Enter the Matrix (2003).
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