According to sources, Keanu Reeves has made more money from The Matrix films than any other actor has from a single film franchise.
The Canadian actor, 58, first featured in The Matrix in 1999 as computer programmer-turned-universe-savior Thomas ‘Neo’ Anderson.
The Wachowski sisters directed the picture, which went on to become one of the most influential and successful action films of all time, and generated three sequels.
Although receiving less critical praise than the original, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, and The Matrix Resurrections remained popular with moviegoers.
Reeves has reportedly earned more money from The Matrix than any other actor has earned from any other franchise.
According to reports from LadBible, Reeves ‘total income for The Matrix franchise was a whopping $156 million (£130 million)’.
This statistic places him ahead of actors such as Robert Downey Jr. for The Avengers, Tom Cruise for Mission: Impossible, and Will Smith for Men in Black.
In addition to Downey Jr. and Cruise, the roster of prominent actors featured Bruce Willis, best known for the Die Hard trilogy.
How did this happen? Despite a $63 million (£52 million) budget, The Matrix made $467 million (£389 million) worldwide.
The Matrix Reloaded made $741 million worldwide, capitalising on the popularity of the first film, with Revolutions earning an additional $427 million.
Each of the films takes place in an alternate dimension where it is revealed that ‘Earth’ as we know it is actually a simulation known as ‘The Matrix’.
As Neo discovers this, he joins a resistance organisation dedicated to liberating humanity from the Matrix and the alien species that governs it.
Earlier this week, Reeves confessed that hearing news about himself might be “surreal,” especially when it involves deadly bugs named after him.
Scientists in Germany named a highly powerful bacteria that kills fungus Keanumycins because it was ‘very lethal in its duty’.
Learning of the news, he said: ‘That may be among the top five craziest bits of news I’ve received about myself. Let’s stick with that one for now.’
Source My Celebrity Life.