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Warner Brothers Announce The Matrix: Special Edit
Kartik3 writes "IGN.com is reporting that Warner Bros. is releasing a 2-disc special edition DVD of The Matrix (loaded with extras) on April 29th and The Animatrix (An Anime series set in the world of the Matrix) DVD on June 3rd." If Animatrix is half as cool as the promo comic that was given out at the Matrix opening, I'll like it.
Warner Home Video will be repackaging The Matrix as a 2-disc set. The new edition will essentially contain the current film and The Matrix Revisited discs. Revisited will be padded out with new promotional features like "Preload: On the Set of Reloaded," episodes 1&2 of The Animatrix: The Second Renaissance, a preview of The Animatrix, "What Is the Game?" trailer for the new Infograme "Enter The Matrix" videogame , a sample of music from Reloaded, and a Marilyn Manson "Rock Is Dead" music video. The set will also include a free ticket offer to The Matrix Reloaded. The Matrix: Special Edition is due on April 29 and will retail $27.95. Oh, and the packaging will be "foil-wrapped" (insert eye-rolling).
Speaking of The Animatrix, this more ambitious project will be released on June 3rd. This disc will include nine short films conceived by the Wachowski brothers, delving into the world of the Matrix and its characters. The collection of shorts, ranging from traditional anime to full-blown CGI, will come from world-renowned anime directors Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Koji Morimoto, Mahiro Maeda, Takeshi Koike, Peter Chung and Andy Jones." Episode include "The Final Flight of the Osiris," "The Second Renaissance Parts 1 & 2," "Kid's Story," "Program," "World Record," "Beyond," "Detective Story," and "Matriculated." The Animatrix will retail $24.98. As for the two actual sequels, the Reloaded and Revolutions DVDs are already in production and are being promised as "breakthrough discs".
You can watch the Animatrix trailer here
John
The drops of water don't know themselves to be a river; and yet the river flows.
I really hope the "extras" include a new commentary track. Have you guys ever sat through the commentary that comes on the DVD. It is a *painful* experience. Its such a great great movie that its sad to see such monotonous commentary. Carrie Moss has some interesting and funny comments, but honestly she just isn't present enough throughout the track. Instead its two of the "geeks" that helped put the movie together ( one was in charge of visual effects). Although some of the technical insight is interesting -- for the most part you find them talking through the best parts of the movie about totally unrelated subjects, or extending valid points way too far. Maybe I'm being a little too critical on something that's supposed to be off the cuff, but it just seemed like the techinical guys didn't have a clue as to how to make the commentary interesting for your average viewer. However, geeks never have been great at stimulating conversation for the masses for minutes, let alone hours.
:-) ).
I love listening to the commentary tracks on DVDs -- Fight Club and Training Day being two of my favorites -- as they offer insight into the movie's themes and motif's and new perspectives on something you may have taken for granted after 5-10 viewings. After so many years and so many viewings, I'd love to finally know what the brother's think of their creation or hear more from Laurence or Hugo (probably not Keanu though
since the Matrix was very much inspired by another anime, Ghost in the Shell.