Breaking news, sort of: “The Matrix” is finally coming to high-def DVD … and through a scheduling quirk, it’s format-exclusive.

As reported on The Digital Bits and Engadget HD, Warner Home Video has announced that it’ll be releasing the “Matrix” trilogy to HD-DVD on May 22nd, with a Blu-ray release to follow later in the year.

Will this provide the edge HD-DVD has been looking for? The “Matrix” films would be a stunning high-def experience … although it seems that Warner releasing them exclusively as a boxed set would work against them in any format, as I’m one of the few people who’d happily sit through the sequels again.

Paramount surely ran afoul of the same problem with their “Misson: Impossible” trilogy box last fall — seriously, who needs “MI2”? — which is why the first two films in that series are being released separately … on May 22nd.

Whoa.