National Film RegistryLibrary of Congress · Inducted 2012
“A visionary and complex film, the science-fiction epic "The Matrix" employed state-of-the-art special effects, production design and computer-generated animation to tell a story—steeped in mythological, literary, and philosophical references—about a revolt against a conspiratorial regime.”
Selected for preservation as culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.
Directed by
Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Studio
Warner Bros. Entertainment · Village Roadshow Pictures · Silver Pictures · 136 min
Box office
$467.2M worldwide on a $63M budget
Honors
Academy Awards — 4 wins, 4 nominationsBritish Academy Film Awards — 2 winsSaturn Award — 2 winsAll 8 wins · 4 nominations on record
Academy Awards: Best Sound Editing
Academy Awards: Best Visual Effects
Academy Awards: Best Film Editing
Academy Awards: Best Sound
British Academy Film Awards: Best Sound
British Academy Film Awards: Best Special Visual Effects
Saturn Award: Best Director
Saturn Award: Best Science Fiction Film
Scholarship
Named in the title of 1 peer-reviewed work
Examples
Biofilms: the matrix revisited — Trends in Microbiology, 2004
Sources: Wikidata · Library of Congress · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
FILM NOTES
Released in 1999 by Warner Bros., The Matrix arrived as a genre-redefining event, fusing philosophy, martial arts choreography, and groundbreaking visual effects into a single package that reshaped action cinema for the decade that followed. Directed by the Wachowskis and built around Keanu Reeves's Neo, the film became a cultural touchstone, its imagery and ideas absorbed into the wider vocabulary of film and technology alike. Its status as a landmark release makes any 35mm cell from the production a piece of a broader turning point in studio filmmaking, not merely a single title's memorabilia.
This cell, Neo Interrogated, points to one of the film's pivotal early scenes, the moment where Neo is questioned before the true nature of his world is revealed to him. It is a scene collectors return to often, since it marks the hinge between his ordinary life and the awakening to come, and Reeves's presence there anchors the character's entire arc. As a frame drawn from that sequence, it holds a piece of the narrative's founding tension, the interrogation that sets Neo's transformation in motion.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of The Matrix (1999).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges, three frames visible on the strip.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no visible torn or deformed holes.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible along one edge beside the picture area, with what appears to be a Dolby Digital data block pattern visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge; a DTS timecode line also appears present as a thin stripe.
Edge print
Not clearly legible in this capture; faint edge markings are present but cannot be quoted with confidence.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight blue-cyan tint consistent with modern polyester safety stock; dye image appears neutral with no visible red shift or fading.
Projection history
No visible scratches, splice marks, or cue marks seen in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, consistent with a release print of The Matrix (1999).
Era check
The combination of polyester base, Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks, DTS timecode stripe, and variable-area optical track is consistent with a late-1990s major studio release print.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063820
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
