‘The Matrix Resurrections’ opens almost 50% lower than expected at the box office

The highest-grossing HBO Max hybrid release of the year remains Godzilla vs. Kong, which was helped towards a robust $467 million tally by a strong showing in China. After that comes Denis Villenueve’s Dune with $393 million, but things really start to taper off the further you work your way down the list.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is the only one of the studio’s hybrid releases to have even crossed $200 million globally this year, with big budget blockbusters The Suicide Squad and Space Jam: A New Legacy flopping hard despite decent opening weekends by the standards of the time.

Unfortunately, it looks like we may be adding The Matrix Resurrections to that list in the coming days, after the fourth installment in the sci-fi action franchise opened almost 50% below expectations at the box office. Heading into the weekend, Warner Bros. were predicting a five-day holiday frame of around $40 million.

However, things tapered off dramatically after a strong start, with Resurrections ultimately topping out with a very disappointing $22 million instead. Everything got caught in the slipstream of Spider-Man: No Way Home, but that can’t be used an excuse when Sing 2 fared very well. The return of Neo and the gang has proven to be divisive, so word-of-mouth evidently hasn’t been strong enough.