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 as a genre-defining event, fusing cyberpunk philosophy with a new grammar of action cinema. Written and directed by the Wachowskis, it introduced bullet time and reshaped how audiences understood reality on screen. The film's success was immediate and lasting, spawning sequels, imitators, and a permanent place in pop culture vocabulary. Its influence touched fashion, choreography, and visual effects work for decades afterward, and it remains a touchstone for discussions of technology, control, and identity in modern film history.
This cell centers on Neo, the reluctant hero whose arc from office worker to liberated fighter drives the entire narrative. Collectors seek Neo material because he anchors the franchise's mythology and its most iconic imagery. A machine gun moment suggests one of the film's kinetic set pieces, where combat becomes both spectacle and metaphor for Neo's growing command over the simulated world around him. Holding a 35mm frame from this sequence connects a collector directly to the physical print history of a movie that changed how action was staged and filmed.
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 each edge, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or distortion.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible along one edge, with what appears to be a Dolby Digital data block pattern in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge, consistent with a dual-format optical release print.
Edge print
Edge print reads, mirrored: '2283 1999 K.OOK 20 10 0 080 104' — consistent with Kodak key-number and stock-identification formatting.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight blue-cyan tint typical of Kodak Vision stock; dye image reads as a rich, saturated colour positive with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No splices or cue marks visible; faint longitudinal lines are present suggesting the print has been projected.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with a release print of The Matrix (1999).
Era check
The combination of Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks, variable-area optical track, Kodak Vision stock edge coding, and 1999 date in the edge print is consistent with a 1999 theatrical 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 000063840
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
