Slashdot Mirror
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!"
"The Matrix 3 will be released simultaneously in 70 sectors of the matri.. I mean... the world. CRAP!"
First post?...
* plonk *
Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?
It will be interesting to see how many people call in sick on the release day, especially in places where it is being released during the day. Anyone do such a study for Star Wars?
christ, the final Matrix? I'll bet all my Star Wars action figures that its gonna seriously suck...wait, except Boba Fett, no matter how sure I am, I never bet the Fett Man
"My shit always works sometimes!"
...except for Internet-land, where it'll be "released" several weeks early.
Since where I live movies are much cheaper than in the US, now I can not see it for $2.50 instead of not seeing it for $8.50. Woo hoo!
Does that mean that the DVD will not be region coded?
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
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.
Cool! On November 5, people around the world will simultaneously get to watch Revolutions again on the big screen.
2003-10-03 07:28:56 Metacortex Launches Website (articles,movies) (rejected)
Metacortex has recently launched a website to promote their products and services, while announcing their involvment with some rather large projects. 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.
If anyone remembers the web-based game/puzzle for the movie A.I., this looks like it may be something similar for Matrix: Revolutions.
Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
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".
They definitely aren't taking any chances on losing money with this one. I predict the strongest opening weekend ever and the biggest drop for the second weekend... gotta get people in the theaters before the word gets out you know...
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
...97% of the world's sysadmins will be gone for a couple of hours, starting at the exact same time. Sounds like time for "Black Hat Fun Fest 2003"...
Alcohol and Calculus don't mix. Don't drink and derive.
i dunno: i think it's actually pretty fair. scheduling the release time while working with time zone differences globally is actually pretty difficult to accomplish, i should think.
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
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
Now, when can we expect:
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.
Cruising the internet on my TI-99/4A @ a whopping 300 baud!
So, when the DVD ships it will be region free since the studio released it world wide on the same day, right? Isn't that the only justification the DVDCCA uses for region codes?
"It was a thought that came up a long time ago about almost a year ago, and it did not come from the Wachowskis, it actually came from inside the studio," says Veronica Kwan-Rubinek, president of international distribution at the studio.
People working for a major studio actually generated a creative thought.
Whoa.
unless of course it ends where the first Martix began.
I misread the post and thought it said that The Matrix Revolutions is going to be simultaneously released in the 70s. THAT WOULD be an accomplishment. I wonder what that would do to Star Wars and the LOTR trilogy in retrospect? ;P
Un-news
I never liked the "machines are using humans as energy cells" aspect of the plot. There are far better sources of energy the machines could have used, such as nuclear, geothermal, etc. I always thought wouldn't it have been cooler if the machines were imprisoning humans and using their brains in a sort of massive computing grid? That the machines needed our collective brainpower for some task, and the purpose of the Matrix is to keep all of those human brains humming along and doing their machine-appointed task in the backround.
Skynet will become self aware.
Shop smart, Shop S-Mart.
I hear a lot of people called in sick AFTER seeing Episodes I and II because they felt sick!
Trinity having sex...
or Trinity using nmap?
Oh man. I have to go to the bathroom now. (For an unrelated reason)
Escape Pod Films: Sketch Comedy and Web Series
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.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, the infamous Lone Gunmen episode 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).