Anime marvel ANIMATRIX @ the Million Dollar Theater

The best MATRIX sequel? 9 anime shorts in the MATRIX universe. Prequels, histories, speculations. A rare big screen movie theater event.

Part of our Let’s Go Back to the Movies series

Saturday, May 16, 2026, Million Dollar Theater

LOCATION: The Million Dollar Theater, 307 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90013

11a THE ANIMATRIX (2003, dir by Andy Jones, Mahiro Maeda, Shinichiro Watanabe, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Takeshi Koike, Koji Morimoto, Peter Chung, Produced by the Wachowskis, animation by Square Pictures, Madhouse, Studio 4C, DNA Productions, Warner Brothers, 102mns, USA, digital presentation)

You can get tickets to THE ANIMATRIX or get the entire ANIME + SPEED TRILOGY All-Day pass (all movies-11a ANIMATRIX 2p REDLINE 5p SPEED RACER best deal).

11a THE ANIMATRIX Ahead of its time like many things the Wachowskis have done, The Animatrix is a 2003 anime anthology movie of 9 shorts from visionary anime directors. Each short tells a prologue or connected story to the original Matrix trilogy and accompanying video games. The Wachowskis understood the interconnectedness of narrative across movies, television, streaming, video games years before everyone else did. Many people consider The Animatrix, though originally made more for the home video market, as the best sequel to the original movie. It’s a thrilling 100+ minutes of anime styles, approaches, narratives. We get shorts that fill us in on the war of the machines that lead to how the Matrix was created. We get a story where Keanu Reeve’s Neo appears (albeit as a shadow) in between the first and second Matrix movies. We also get stories that hint at the rebel city of Zion we’ll learn about in upcoming Matrix movies. The Animatrix rarely gets the big screen treatment it deserves. So we’re giving it that treatment. Come watch one a visionary cult favorite in a movie palace.

Today, we screen three visionary anime and anime inspired 21st century works. You can get tickets to any individual movie or get the ANIME + SPEED TRILOGY All-Day pass (all movies, best deal). Go to next door’s historic Grand Central Market for breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks as we take in what an art form can do and inspire.