I actually thought the first act was the best part of the movie and I wished they would have just went all out on the meta commentary aspect. It was at least interesting. Once they toss that aside the movie becomes very bland and no longer works on any level (not as a sequel, reboot, or its own thing).

The OG SW trilogy is great. Ep 7-9 is terrible.

Matrix 1 is great. 2 and 3 are ok. 

People tend not to like change to a known entity.

The Matrix trilogy is based on version 8, and implies that ver 3-7 were very similar to 8 with slight changes. Ver 1 and 2 didn't work out. 

Resurrections is based on ver 9 and its considerably different. Which shouldn't be too odd because that was basically inevitable after what took place in Revolutions. Resurrections is less dark and gritty with less human conflict because it fits the story. 

Now as for the self aware, meta take, that's understandable, even though it's written in relatively well. I can see why people might not like it because the trilogy didn't ever take you out of the Matrix universe. Just like how the humans are kept unaware in the Matrix and to the majority that's what's expected, so they accept it. 

There's also some woke stuff in it, again understandble, but most of it is done either tastefully, or is so outrageous its easily ignored. The overall narrative actually seems to be the opposite of woke and mostly 'red pilled'.

The ending also isn't like the first 3 films as to the thoughts and feelings they give you and leave you with. The unknowns and want for more is quite different.

People have become far more skeptical about everything in recent years. After this long, offering a Matrix so different was risky. How many remember the story well enough and how many undestood the trilogy well enough? 

Wachowski and WB seemingly took another big risk and it might not pay off this time around.

No, Afterlife was not a success. Was it as big of a flop as 2016? No. Of course, that film had costly reshoots that ballooned the budget. Afterlife may have doubled it's production budget, but it still hasn't recovered its marketing budget. Considering a movie studio sees about 50% of the revenue from the box office take, it needs to make ~$215M-$225M just to break even. Keep in mind, it also failed to even match 2016's box office of $229M.

Also, I haven't seen where Sony announced that they greenlit a sequel. Just articles stating Jason Reitman has ideas for a sequel. I'm guessing it'll be another nostalgia bomb and then the last third recreates the Ghostbusters 2 ending.

You don't understand how people could like TLJ, yet used the exact same argument people used to defend that movie? People said that it was for the intellectuals and others just didn't get it.

If your first defense of a movie is people are dumb and didn't get it, you don't have much of a defense. Maybe people did get it, but still hate it?

Personally, I'm glad it's flopping, like a lot of cash grabs have been lately. Maybe it'll force Hollywood to stop getting by on nostalgia and mediocre hero movies alone.

Ironically, the movie makes light of this. Which is so weird based on the negative views its getting. Who the movie blames it on is even weirder, though makes sense from a real world perspective if you understand projection.

The action scenes were likey the final straw. They don't live up to the OG trilogy or the John Wick trilogy. Less of it requires better quality and they didn't present that unfortunately. 

Agent Smith didn't seem anything like Agent Smith and I don't really blame the actor for it but the direction and writing. There was no reason Smith should have returned in this movie and his character in Resurrections makes no sense and doesn't tie into his original trilogy motivations at all, he's a completely different person. If they couldn't bring Smith back as Smith wanting the same thing he's always wanted then don't bring him back at all. The original trilogy made the agents, including Smith, actually feel like programs. Artificial, cold and calculating. Smith in this is just a dude, he acts human. And also yes, the action scenes were garbage because the best scenes in Matrix Trilogy were the martial arts scenes, and this movie was too much "lol force push magic!" There wasn't anything like the dojo scene in the first film (even though they tried to recreate it), there wasn't anything like the chateau scene or highway scene from reloaded. There was no moment in Resurrections where Neo got a badass martial arts fight scene.

Neo was basically neutered in this movie, it felt like he was just a passenger going from one scene to the next confused and occasionally casting magic spells so he didn't get shot.

And also:

Turned out to be right. After 5 days at the box office, Resurrections made just $69.8M WW. This movies budget was probably the same as the other sequels, $150M. But, I'll be generous and say it was $125M. That means to break even on the production and marketing, this film probably needs to hit $350M-$375M to break even. Hell, with the HBO Max deal, let's say $300M-$325M.

Just watch Megazone23 and Dark City instead. Both are better than Matrix and came before.

Dark city ages like fine wine, always a joy to watch it again. The Matrix not so much though, relies too much on the action sequences which lose their impact over time. And of course, the big moments are already known on subsequent viewings. While in Dark city you notice all new details on subsequent viewings.

I did enjoy the sequels which added some interesting characters. The action wasn't as good and the pervasive greenish tint was off putting. Yet the underground city was very well done imo. Anyway, not really interested in another Matrix movie.

Ghostbusters didn't have a huge marketing budget, the VOD/home video/TV/streaming revenue the movie will more than cover the marketing costs and they did have some merchandising and product promotion in the film to offset costs too. And also all this during COVID, so you have to factor in Sony is looking at a sequel that releases post-COVID.

‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s Jason Reitman & Gil Kenan Sign Sony Pact – Deadline

Sony signed a deal with the Ghostbusters Afterlife writer + director for more movies after they saw the box office for Afterlife, which is basically industry code for "we want more Ghostbusters, but the director and writer want a guarantee we'll at least give a first look to some of their other projects". But there's no way Sony signs this deal if they were unhappy with Ghostbusters Afterlife and/or didn't want a sequel. 

This is the deal you sign with a studio when you've had a success as a director and/or writer in Hollywood, they get a sequel to a movie they want and you get maybe another passion project you have on the side greenlit or at least moved into first look status. 

It's easy to say "Hollywood should make more original stuff!" when it's not you financing it with your own money, lol, if that was the case, you probably would want to some guarantee there's a built in audience so you have a better chance of seeing your money come back.

The first Matrix is the best Hollywood action blockbuster of the last 25 years, even Tarantino has said that. 

I think only Lord of the Rings (not the The Hobbit) are on that level.