15 Most Highly-Anticipated Blockbuster Movies In History

Fresh, vibrant, original, unique and exciting; The Matrix exploded out of nowhere in 1999 to become the most influential blockbuster in Hollywood, with its influences found everywhere from both the onslaught of copycat gun-fu actioners that followed in its wake and the relentless mockery of bullet time that was mined incessantly for a cheap laugh.

In short, it stayed at the forefront of popular culture for years, only increasing awareness for more stories set in the Wachowski's unique mythology.

With a new A-list franchise well and truly established, back-to-back sequels released six months apart had fans all over the world salivating at the prospect of more adventures featuring Neo and friends. At least until they saw it anyway, and realized that no amount of excellent action compensated for such an over-indulgent mess of a story.

When The Matrix Reloaded was finally unleashed upon the world, the hype and anticipation that came with four years of speculation saw the movie earn a huge $742.1m worldwide, which made it the highest-grossing R-rated movie in history by quite some distance, and it would hold on to that title for thirteen years before it was knocked from its perch by Deadpool.

The air of disappointment surrounding Reloaded greatly affected the enthusiasm surrounding Revolutions, which would earn over $300m less at the box office once fans discovered that the franchise was hovering dangerously close to needless self-indulgence.