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Matrix Special Edition Cancelled
An anonymous reader writes "According to The Digital Bits, the recently announced Matrix Special Edition has been cancelled. Rumor is that it was cancelled by the Wachowski brothers in hopes of coming out with a Super Collectors Special Edition later."
From the article: "There's no official reason given as to why this SE was cancelled."
From the studio article in the same article: "Warner Home Video will not be releasing the previously announced The Matrix Special Edition double-disc DVD. In a shift in strategy to broaden The Matrix fan base prior to the May 15 theatrical release of the highly anticipated sequel The Matrix Reloaded, Warner Home Video will reprice The Matrix DVD to $19.99 SRP on April 29."
There's your official reason right there, and it's reasonable. If Warner released an expensive special edition now, it would push the standard Matrix DVD farther back on the shelves. The special edition would sell well, undoubtedly, but only already-dedicated fans would be willing to pay a steep price. With Warner's new strategy, stores will promote the newly-discounted standard DVD, and newbies will be that much more encouraged to get into the film -- and subsequently more likely to head to theaters for the sequel. Makes good sense from a marketing point of view.
Also, the article doesn't say that the SE has been killed forever -- indeed, it implies that a special edition of some kind will come out when Warner thinks the time is right.
I wonder to what extent the expeience of the movie itself becomes diluted with such marketing iterations.
The "Special Edition" DVD was going to be 90% recycled material from the original Matrix and Matrix Revisited DVDs, with only a bit more added. Perhaps someone realized that no one was going to buy it. (casual fans would just buy the movie, hardcore fans already have 'Revisited') Kudos to the Wachowskis for NOT trying to gouge their fans!
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> Rumor is that it was cancelled by the Wachowski brothers in hopes of coming out with a Super Collectors Special Edition later."
rather than trying to milk us for both the Special Edition and then (surprise!) the Super Collectors Special Edition.
The theater release schedule is terrific as well.
The Wachowski brothers are going to have a huge and satisfied fan base simply by doing the opposite of whatever this guy has done.
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This is how it works:
Who are the customers? Die hard fans, and relatives who have no idea what to get someone for xmas/birthday but remember that they liked the film when it was on at the cinema. Don't get me wrong, I thought The Matrix was a good film, but it was never a cultural revolution, it was always a franchise.
Beware of what your buying into...
You pay the price to see the movie big-screen and then they can fleece you later on with the same movie on DVD that has *EXTRA FEATURES*
Later on, there's a super-extended *Directors Cut* version.
The bad side of this digital-age is obvious - overpriced, over-sold, over exagerated, redundant.
The good side is not so obvious and rarely seen these days - pure quality and value for money.
This quality is out there, but my god, you have to wade through 90% of crap to find it.
A slashdotting - you get the stick first and then the carrot !
You mean like every other movie out there? I love how the James Bond box set was released right before the theatre release of a new movie. Hmmm, maybe so they can sell an updated boxed set later on? Or X-Men 1.5. If I had known they were going to release a special edition before X2 came out I would have waited. Instead I'm just going to be happy with the original release. Of course most of my friends rushed out and bought 1.5.
It's all about gouging the customers for an extra $40. I can't tell you how many people I know didn't realize that a LoTR:FoTR special edition was going to be released in November. They rushed out and bought the theatrical release and then bought the special edtion later for the extra footage. Of course the theatrical release will sit on a shelf collecting dust, but the studio got their extra $20 so who cares right?
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I think they made a good move by delaying this. They decided not to alientate those potential customers who are not already Matrix loyalists as other movie franchises have, i.e. Star Wars, LOTR. It is tough for a non-franchise fan to get into the all movie hoopla if they haven't seen where the franchise originated, especially if they have to spend $50 for a special edition for a movie they aren't even sure they will like.
Opinions may vary on what franchise is best, or whether or not this was a good move for the current fan base, but in the end it will all work out. The Matrix fanatics who are complaining and freaking out about the announcement will still be the first ones in the line to purchase the special editions next spring.
I wish people would stop bashing on New Line for releasing the extended version of FOTR a few months after releasing the theatrical version. New Line made this perfectly clear right from the start and, unless you were an idiot or had money to burn, you had no reason to buy the initial release if you knew it was the later version that you would secretly lust for.
sweettooth, what more did you expect from New Line? An Uruk-Hai warrior standing at every store bashing you on the head whilst shouting "longer version out in November" if you tried to buy the standard release?
Don't any of your friends who are so DVD-crazy that they buy films as soon as they are released read any film or home video magazines that would have spelt it out for them in big letters? Don't they have a friend (such as yourself) who would tell them to hold their horses until the super-duper version comes out?
In short, sweettooth, what the hell did New Line do wrong except keep their customers well informed and is it their fault that nobody in your inner circle knew what practically everyone else who cared managed to find out?
Yeah, New Line. Real SOBs for telling you just what they're going to do and then actually doing it...
Sheesh. Some people.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Yeah... sure... we're going to produce a special DVD... got your attention? got you talking to friends? okay... now were not... got your attention again? got you talking to your friends again?
Actually, they did get "a formof fusion" going, according to Morpheus' explaintion. It was suppossedly this combined with the humans as betteries that powered the 'bots. Why you would need human generators if you had fusion is the stupid-bar I cannot seem to jump over to really get into this film.
The real reason to hate the Wachowski's over this (now) series of derivative crap ("computers take over the world" as a plot jumped the shark 2 seconds after the Terminator gave a thumbs up while being dunked in molten metal) is that they bankrupted the spfx company that did the first Matrix, and then picked someone else when it came time to do the sequel instead of unloading a little bit of the megabucks that rolled in from the first one to ressurect the die-hards who starved. So they're not just assholes, but unethical assholes to boot.
sometimes, though, the deleted scenes were very well done and perfectly acted; but just didn't fit the flow of the movie. good scenes with insightful commentary ( esp. those by M Night Shyamalan -- 6th Sense, Unbreakable ) can give you an interesting deeper perspective into certain characters, that may have been trimmed from the original release simply because of time constraints.
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