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
The Matrix arrived from Warner Bros. in 1999, a Wachowski-directed production that redefined action cinema for a generade weaned on cyberpunk anxiety and pre-millennium unease. Its bullet-time photography and green-tinted digital dread became instant shorthand for a certain late-90s vision of hidden reality, spawning sequels, imitators, and a lasting place in film school syllabi. The film's commercial and critical success cemented Keanu Reeves as an action icon and gave audiences a new vocabulary for questioning the world in front of them.
This cell holds Neo, the reluctant messiah of the story, in his identity as armed protagonist, the moment where Thomas Anderson's transformation into a capable, weaponized figure becomes visible fact. Collectors prize Neo material for its centrality to the franchise's mythology, the character standing as the audience's entry point into the simulated world and the fight against it. A 35mm cell from this era preserves a physical fragment of the theatrical release itself, a single frame excised from the reel that once ran through projectors, offering owners a tangible connection to the picture's original distribution rather than a reproduction or promotional artifact.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of The Matrix (1999)
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames
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, with what appears to be a Dolby Digital data block strip in the inter-perforation gap on the same edge
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read any key numbers or manufacturer text
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight warm-amber tint consistent with colour dye layers; image colours read as stable with no obvious fading or red shift
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with The Matrix (1999)
Era check
The combination of a variable-area optical track with a Dolby Digital data block is consistent with a theatrical release print from the late 1990s, matching the 1999 release date of the film on record
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 000063834
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
