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Final Matrix Set for Synchronous Release
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.'"
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!"
doing this to help curb warez maybe?
So that they can capitalize on a big crappy ending.
I just hope they don't waste 15 mins of time showing us a stupid dancing wild orgy scene.
..is the MOVIE any good?
:-)
(You KNOW you have to see it, right?
Harald
...how one group will rip and distribute this one first. If everyone gets it at the same time (presumably from the theater), there should be guaranteed diversity.
Then again, an insider always hands some group a dvd screener and you know the rest.
I think that with the globalization of P2P networks, and the fact that volunteer subtitiles are quite simple to produce, more and more movies (and especially those with high 'geek-appeal') will need to be out simultaneously.
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".
...in order to stop bootleg copies production. Here in my country (Ecuador, Southamerica), Reloaded was released two weeks after the American Release. But you could find at streets bootleg copies of it as soon as May, 16!!
I wonder if this was done to prevent word of "Internet" from spreading faster then the release of the movie to different times zone saying that it sucked. With the movie lauching at the same time everywhere you will kill that effect for the first day at least.
I'll still see it though. Hell, our company is having an outing when the moview releases here in Chicago (8 am I beleive).
"Attention Citizens, 2+2 now equals 3.947547175. Please recalibrate your equipment now" --The Computer
messaging let down, if it sucks as bad as the 2nd one did....If everyone is seeing it the same day they will get their peice of the pie even if it does suck really bad...good strategy...Here's to hoping IT ROCKS......
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
To me, this is indication that they are afraid of bad reviews. If the movie is released in the US first and people here don't like it, that may hurt profits overseas.
You know, if you don't like it, you could just...Not watch the movie. Or if you really can't stop yourself from writing a bad review, at least post it somewhere appropriate.
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.
They'd be fools not to.
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.
Hell is being intelligent in a world full of idiots.
It's because DVD prices vary to suit local economic conditions. Look at a map of the DVD regions, 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.
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
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
How can simultaneous release be seen as a positive attribute for a film? Any rational entity could rightly assume that the promoters are doing this because they must KNOW that there will be negative reaction to the movie. They have to try to get everyone to see it before word gets out that it really and truly sucks. Too bad.... but what can you expect from sequels. Maybe every sequel should have to carry a truth-in-advertising disclaimer that they are just "Milking it".
Do you always watch movies while sticking a pointy twig in your ass, or just this one?
Jesus, people...it's entertainment. Suspension of disbelief? Enjoying a passable story with some neat action and effects? Any of this mean anything to you?