Final Matrix Set for Synchronous Release 474
sdirector writes "'Warner Bros. has announced that in a whoa-worthy bit of synchronicity The Matrix Revolutions, the concluding chapter in the Wachowski brothers' hit sci-fi trilogy, will be released simultaneously in nearly 70 countries.'"
oh what they'll do to get a press release! (Score:5, Insightful)
5th paragraph of the article says, "Such a release strategy has never before been attempted by Tinseltown. The closest a studio has come to doing such simultaneous, synchronized release was in May, when Fox opened X2 on the same day in 80 countries, but not at the same hour."
So, I guess another movie some day will top this in press release land by saying, "Yes the Matrix did something similar last year, but not with the same color carpet!"
well... (Score:4, Interesting)
what i found most interesting in the article:
"revolutions will also screen at selected imax venues, the first time a major hollywood release has ever premiered concurrently on both 35mm and the large-screen format.
OK, you just know people are gonna be going from imax to stadium-seating theatres to compare film experiences. heck, i might do it myself.
ed
An pretty idiotic too, if you ask me (Score:2)
My bad... (Score:2)
Re:oh what they'll do to get a press release! (Score:3, Funny)
Hell, just getting 70 theaters in the US to do anything on the same hour is like hearding cats!
And in other news... (Score:5, Funny)
First post?...
Re:And in other news... (Score:4, Funny)
Or perhaps in 70 parallel matrices? All will be revealed
When will it be released on Kazaa, eDonkey, et.al? (Score:4, Funny)
Call in sick (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Call in sick (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Call in sick (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Call in sick (Score:2)
Star Wars (Score:5, Funny)
Final Matrix? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Final Matrix? (Score:3, Funny)
I ate a lot of cereal so that my little brother could get his Boba Fett
Re:Final Matrix? (Score:2)
No one did. I ate all that cereal, then when I got my Fett, the fucking rocket wouldn't launch as advertised.
Re:Final Matrix? (Score:2)
I've always wanted a Star Wars collection...
Except... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Except... (Score:3, Funny)
cool (Score:3, Funny)
Synchronized Release DVD (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Synchronized Release DVD (Score:2)
This isn't the first movie to come out simultaneously all over the world. Notably, the first two (and one assumes/hopes the last) Lord of the Rings movies, I'm sure their DVDs are as region-coded as everybody else's.
Region-coding is all about market control, not some silly thing about keeping people from importing the DVD before the movie is in theaters. They don't want you importing the DVD because they can get away with charging you more money that way.
Re:Synchronized Release DVD (Score:2)
In the spirit of "The only dumb question it the one not asked," I'm going to do just that. How, exactly, doesthe DVD region encoding "control the market"?? This is something I've never understood. I had assumed that it was to prevent imports from coming into a g
Re:Synchronized Release DVD (Score:4, Insightful)
It's because DVD prices vary to suit local economic conditions. Look at a map of the DVD regions [pioneeraus.com.au], and you'll see that it's gerrymandered. Europe and South Africa are one price, while the poor parts of Africa, India and the former Soviet Union are another, Australia and South America are another, Southeast Asia is one, China is it's own region. It's all about money. DVDs intended for the Indian market are considerably cheaper than those coded Region 3 for Australia, even though they are both PAL.
This of course begs the question: if they can sell DVDs profitably in India for the equivilant for $6 US, why are we paying $29 for the same thing.
P.S. Yes, I know all that crap about Adam Smith and his invisible hands. Bite me.
Re:Synchronized Release DVD (Score:3, Interesting)
They could sell it profitably here for $6 as well. But, they could sell it *more profitably* at $29. ("The best deal is the one that brings the most profit." - Rule of acquisition #2).
Having said that, why do we pay $29 for a $6 item? Ignorance, Apathy, and Laziness. People either don't know, don't care, or could be bothered to get the thing for less.
warez (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:warez (Score:2)
Re:warez (Score:2)
there's not too many of people who are willing to watch a shitty rushed cammed version just to get to see the movie few days early.
however, when they stall some movies for so long that the dvd is out in other countries.. though they usually do this only with not so hot movies or with independent sleeper hits..
Of course! (Score:4, Insightful)
I just hope they don't waste 15 mins of time showing us a stupid dancing wild orgy scene.
Re:Of course! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Of course! (Score:2, Insightful)
i was looking so forward to the orgy and all i saw was an avarage rave with clips of 2 people having sex (2 doesn't make an orgy)
Re:Of course! (Score:2)
They could title the scene, "Last night in Gomorrah."
I want the Wachowskis to make another porn movie. Bound [imdb.com] was rad.
Re:Of course! (Score:2)
Cost/Benefit ratio, my good man. If I want to see an orgy, I'll break out my copies of "Girls Gone Wild", aquired on DVD for about the same price as my ticket to see "The Matrix". Much more entertaining, and I don't have to see Keanu's pasty white ass.
Bigger turn on? (Score:5, Funny)
or Trinity using nmap?
Oh man. I have to go to the bathroom now. (For an unrelated reason)
Re:Of course! (Score:2)
Ahem. Minorities?. You do realise that whities are the minority in overall stats..
Never did figure that out. . . (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd have to watch the thing again to be certain, but my first and last impression was that, unlike the first film, the second was a garbled mess with no message to speak of.
-FL
Wow, that is really amazing but.. (Score:3, Insightful)
(You KNOW you have to see it, right?
Re:Wow, that is really amazing but.. (Score:2)
It'll be interesting to see (Score:3, Insightful)
Then again, an insider always hands some group a dvd screener and you know the rest.
This strategy didn't stop X-Men bootlegs (Score:3, Funny)
In related news... (Score:5, Interesting)
Metacortex [metacortechs.com] has recently launched a website to promote their products [metacortechs.com] and services [metadex.net], while announcing their involvment with some rather large projects [theaquapolis.com]. If the name of this company doesn't sound entirely familiar, maybe you will remember the name of one of their former employees, Thomas Anderson [imdb.com].
If anyone remembers the web-based game/puzzle for the movie A.I., this looks like it may be something similar for Matrix: Revolutions.
Re:In related news... (Score:2)
Re:In related news... (Score:5, Funny)
I bet there's a cute message if you convert the binary to ascii.
Yep, it reads: "Don't forget to drink your Ovaltine!" =)
(nobody is gonna get that...)
Re:In related news... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:In related news... (Score:3, Informative)
Note that this is a loosy binary-to-ascii translations because I translated the token 10010110 as ' -
Re:In related news... (Score:2, Interesting)
MetaGamex Console
Are you ready to enter another world? Are you ready for an experience unlike any you've ever encountered before? Well get ready for the MetaGamex gaming system.
Please tell me the end of revolutions won't be some metacortechs engineer pulling a virtual reality helmet off of Thomas Anderson's head.
Re:In related news... (Score:3, Funny)
You mean the old bald guy that Beavis & Butt-head used to antagonize?
Re:In related news... (Score:2)
Also the Underscore web hosting site has a very simple looking login, done in javascript, but was cleverly obscured by using a simple CRC check and a redirect to a page named after the password =)
Re:In related news... (Score:3, Interesting)
For example, I gave them an email address in their "MetaGamex Beta Test" signup, which really sent a short email to the address I gave it, telling me thanks for signing up, blah blah blah. I thought, maybe this is a way to get more clues, so I looked in
More & more common (Score:5, Insightful)
If I can see a divx a few month before a movie on divx I would have been able to see in a theatre, I'll only go to see only good movies which are worth the 8 euros I'll have to pay to see it on big screen, which might be less than "every movie".
Re:More & more common (Score:2)
Surprise? (Score:2)
Wow... it must really suck hard! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Wow... it must really suck hard! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Wow... it must really suck hard! (Score:5, Funny)
Well, Gigli has a hammerlock on the biggest second week drop, 'going down' 81.9%. If Revolutions does worse than that, I'll eat my own socks without ketchup.
Re:Wow... it must really suck hard! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wow... it must really suck hard! (Score:2)
Should that happen, I reserve the right to say "Gobble, gobble" just before you do.
Re:Wow... it must really suck hard! (Score:3, Funny)
Another desperate move... (Score:2, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Oh no... (Score:5, Funny)
This might mean it sucks (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:This might mean it sucks (Score:3, Insightful)
It made a $281,048,966 US box office total, and over $700 million worldwide so far...Apparently, even if it is "a pretty piece of eye candy", as you say...Some people seem to enjoy candy.
Hmmmm (Score:3, Insightful)
I'll still see it though. Hell, our company is having an outing when the moview releases here in Chicago (8 am I beleive).
what after revolutions (Score:2, Funny)
Re:what after revolutions (Score:5, Funny)
One word (Score:2, Funny)
Yeah... (Score:2)
Cool! (Score:5, Interesting)
1. The boxed set ?
2. Each title in letterbox/wide-screen ?
3. The letterbox/wide-screen boxed set ?
4. Each title as a 'limited editition' with a bunch of extra crap ?
5. The limited-edition boxed set ?
6. Each title released individually as 'Director's Cut' ?
7. The director's cut of the boxed set ?
'Cause you know they're going to take a page from George Lucas and whore the titles like he did with Star Wars.
Re:Cool! (Score:2)
Where did you get your DVD box set of Star Wars IV -> VI?
Re:Cool! (Score:3, Informative)
I have the boxed set [amazon.com] of VHS tapes from the original three, and only because they were a gift. They're the digitally-remastered (gold box) set.
I have a couple of friends who pounced on the 1st box set that came out. I tried to warn them, knowing they'd release another set that had been digitially-remastered.
8. The announcement of Matrix 4: Convolutions ? (Score:2)
Immediately after Lucas said he could legally make a 3 DVD Indiana Jones box set, he also announced plans for Indiana Four.
I whole-heartedly expect to see a Peter Jackson "The Hobbit" hit theaters after they box the ultimate LotR trilogy DVD set.
I also whole-heartedly expect to see a "Matrix 4" after they box the ultimate trilogy DVD set.
Region Codes (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Region Codes (Score:2)
> wide on the same day, right? Isn't that the only justification the DVDCCA uses
> for region codes?
Of course it wont be region free.
This system has already been justified, they dont need to obide by those rules now that its in place and illegal to get around using technical (or common sense) means.
IT'S A TRAP! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:IT'S A TRAP! (Score:2)
It is one of the best books I've ever read, period.
The sad thing is that it takes a good book to do sci-fi right....at least for most people. Myself, I see the little touches in a movie like The Matrix or the later Star Wars movies that overshines the negatives. Where a book describes those things for you, a movie challenges you to think about them and pick them out for yourself. At lea
Re:IT'S A TRAP! (Score:2)
(Hint: His joke is funny because Matrix:Revolutions will have many of the world's computer programmers in one place at one time. This would be the ideal deployment for the Snow Crash virus, from the book Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.)
P.S. teamhasnoi, I'm sorry for destroying your joke.
Here's the Whoa-Worthy Part (Score:5, Funny)
People working for a major studio actually generated a creative thought.
Whoa.
Cat in the Mirror (Score:2)
Finally... (Score:2)
Whoaa!! (Score:5, Funny)
One way of avoiding the text (Score:3, Insightful)
Which countries? (Score:2)
Re:Which countries? (Score:2)
I think people in every country not specifically named in the announcement (well, they listed cities in usa, england, rusia and japan) will be in doubt for some time more, at least I have the same question but for Uruguay.
A different take on the Matrix... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:A different take on the Matrix... (Score:3)
Yeah, like it was all some big mistake caused by some computer taking Douglas Adams too seriously.
The power idea is too stupid... the machines would have less trouble harvesting plants.
IMHO the "Zion destroyed 6 times before" line, Neo gaining power over the squid-things, and that matrix-virus travelling to a human host in Zion all reek of a plot based on Zion being part of the matrix used to deal with weird people like Neo.
It beats the Rambo plot of defeating the machines through brute force, or the
Re:A different take on the Matrix... (Score:3, Funny)
Digital Projection? (Score:2)
Re:Digital Projection? (Score:2)
Yes, but IMAX is not digital. IMAX is 133mm film. The problem with this is the movie was shot on 35mm stock to begin with (we can't even get the 70mm goodness that was the original ESB, ROTJ, or even the 1989 Batman these days). IMAX has the giant center of the action, but you lose the wideness to the action of the screen without major tweaks. IMAX does not go beyond two hours either. Yes, IMAX is impressive (I saw AOTC in the format), but that
And, that will be the hour that... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:And, that will be the hour that... (Score:3, Funny)
Hamster
In other news... (Score:2, Funny)
This was a public service announcement. If it had contained any real content, you would know by now.
Re:In other news... (Score:3, Interesting)
I think I know why the simultaneous release... (Score:2)
judging from reloaded, when the reviews start to hit for revolutions - the wind will be completely out of the franchise's sails.
the international demand at release would have totally fizzled with a traditional release scheme.
looking at the numbers, the US gross for the first matrix was about 30% of the worldwide grosses (US:$171m, world:$450) and the US gross for reloaded was still about 30% of the worldwide(US:$281m, world:$738m).
Then consider that the first film made the bulk of its money fairly evenly
SUCK!!! Now I'm going to have to wait 6 more hours (Score:2)
I'm on the west coast (CA), and was expecting to be able to see it at 12:01 on 2003-11-05, but according to the release I'll have to wait 6 more hours, _and_ get my ass up in the morning. I know I'd much rather stay up until 3:00, juiced up after seeing a good movie, rather than get up at 6:00 and have to drag my ass into work after instead of riding my motorcycle the wrong way down the freeway!
Of course they are. (Score:5, Insightful)
1) Guarantees the largest box office take.
2) Minimizes the effect piracy has on opening weekend numbers.
3) Avoid the worst effects of bad word-of-mouth by showing it to folks before they are warned away from it.
Studios never used to bother with this, as coordinating such a large release was an impressive logistical problem to tackle. Due to those three factors, however, they really have no choice anymore. The studios like to play it like they are doing this to please the fans, but it's really just to buff their bottom line.
They long for the days when there was no "buzz" on a movie except for the one they created with their marketing campaigns. Websites like AICN and Rotten Tomatoes have destroyed their business model of using an ad campaign to boost the box office for a bad film. News travels at the speed of suck from those websites and viewers are now warned away from crappy films months before the film is even released. Conversely, good movies get tons of free exposure and do much better in the box office, making it harder for studios to bury a picture. Be glad for those kinds of websites and pay them a visit, even if you don't read the reviews. They make it harder for hollywood to push crap product and get away with it.
Word of mouth is much faster these days as well. Thank your pagers, mailing lists, and cell phones for that. When you see a good movie, you tell your friends. Same goes for warning them about a bad one.
Piracy makes it dangerous to stagger a film release. Release it in the USA and tomorrow it's on the streets in Yugoslavia and Hong Kong, and floating around Kazaa or Usenet for anyone with a phat | to download. It's best to get the biggest bang out of opening weekend because piracy will damage the ticket sales more and more over time. Movies don't really have legs these days... Titanic, Shakespeare in Love, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding are the only ones I remember recently that had any real long term box office take. These days it's just a flash in the pan on opening weekend.
The studios like to moan about how all this technology is wrecking their business. Frankly, it's all bullshit. All the technology and piracy does is let us avoid wasting our money on crappy pictures. If it's a good movie, you'll see it in the theater or buy the DVD (still reasonably priced, as opposed to music) and they'll get their money. They are just pissed off because they can't sell us a crappy product anymore.
Hey, hollywood. Improve your product. Stop wasting time and money fighting a war that you'll never win. Take some of those annoying commercials out of the theater and perhaps I'll go to the movies more often. I don't like paying to watch a bunch of ads for products I don't give a damn about in the first place. The ads aren't even superbowl quality! That's pretty insulting.
Remember, every time you pirate a movie, they fire a producer (and baby Jesus kills a kitten). Pirate at least one a week so they fire all the crappy ones and they either go out of business or make some good films for a change. Keep the pressure on, and remind them who they really work for. You.
Thank you (Score:3, Interesting)
At the opposite end of the spectrum, the infamous Lone Gunmen episode [slashdot.org] of the X-files aired this week in Sweden (18 months after the US network premiere), but in this case I hold the swedish network responsible (wankers).
It's a ploy! (Score:3, Funny)
Don't fall for it! Don't let them root the net and build the real Matrix!
Re:Sounds dangerous! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I hope its a better film than the last one (Score:2)
NOT THE EWOKS!!! GAAUGHH!
*takes own life*