A significant stretch to the parameters asked for, but what about "Westworld" with Yule Brenner? Pretty good movie too, saw a lot of influences that have been seen in later movies...



...the outer, greater world was not affected by the problems in the movie.

I actually saw this one in the theatre and really liked it. I can't believe I totally forgot about it though!

I can. While I enjoyed it, I did find it forgettable.



The Jedi Master

for anyone interested in a similar subject matter, I can recommend the book "Old Twentieth" by Joe Haldeman

http://www.amazon.com/Old-Twentieth-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0441013430

Panzermeyer, Tron must be considered historic when put in the context as you presented it (genre defining), but there is such a huge gap between it and The Matrix that it makes me wonder why it wasn't jumped on by Hollywood after Tron came out. I mean, wasn't Tron successful enough? I did however notice that the waters were tested with a show called Max Headroom, but that was waaaaaay more "pop" than Tron was cerebral.

How about Logans Run?

That's a close example since it did indeed have a separate "reality" from the rest of the world but it was run my humans, not any kind of computer or A.I.

I'm not usually a fan of remakes but a remake of Logan's Run could be great if the right people are involved.

So what was the computer/AI that sent Logan out to find Sanctuary, and he caused to shut down with spectacular results at the end of the film?

Ok, I had forgotten about that. Good point. I hadn't seen Logan's Run in over 20 years so I guess I need to watch it again and refresh my memory.

There were also the 2 Lawnmower Man films, but they're not that great in comparison.
Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe, the Scott Bros' favorites, were in Virtuosity, also largely forgettable.

However, while AI and VR were big in those, it wasn't "people living in a computer" like in TRON or The Matrix.

As to why, that's easy. Until The Matrix, no film like that made good money! So why do it?




The Jedi Master