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(February,2003)
From: Christian Science Monitor (The Detail is here) It's a 'Matrix' kind of world
'The Matrix' sequel doesn't come out until May, but the marketing machine has begun. By Gloria Goodale | Arts and culture correspondent ofThe Christian Science Monitor BURBANK, CALIF. – The year of "The Matrix" has already begun, as filmmakers reveal sneak peeks of the sequels and the first video game based on the franchise. This is joyful news for fans who have worn out the three-year-old DVD from too much viewing. For the rest of world, it is a wake-up call. The methods of the "Matrix" mythology are the future of cross-medium entertainment. Weigh in on issues of the day in our forums. Directors Larry and Andy Wachowski and the creative team from "The Matrix" movie machinery feel that they have formed an entire universe, "not merely a revolution, but a revelation," says video-game developer Dave Perry. The original 1999 film whetted the appetites of millions for more of Neo and Morpheus, but with nothing new, fans have had to be content with Hollywood's endless imitation of the Matrix-style wall-walking and bullet time. That all changed this past week. A Hollywood-style première, complete with all the original film's stars - Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Laurence Fishburne - unveiled a gaggle of goodies for the material-starved "Matrix" maniacs: tantalizing peeks at the coming sequels, "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions," as well as "Enter the Matrix," the first video game based on the franchise, which will debut May 15 along with the first sequel. All that and some Matrix material that's available right now: a group of free short films at www.theanimatrix.com. As with everything Matrix, these six- to nine-minute anime-style clips are the brainchild of the Matrix creators, the Wachowski brothers. They explore the origins of the Matrix as well as introduce new characters in fresh stories that interweave with the feature films. On March 21, a nine-minute film, "The Final Flight of the Osiris," will debut before the feature film, "Dreamcatcher." The klieg-light extravaganza, held in a barn-like soundstage on the Warner Brothers lot, allowed guests to play unfinished versions of the video game on all four of the major hardware platforms, PS2, GameCube, X-box, and a PC. The reason all of the above is something more than just mondo Matrix-moneymaking is that each of the above reveals a different part of the Matrix universe. The short films streaming online reveal prequel information, and the video game features two smaller characters from the second and third films, Ghost and Niobe, the latter played by Jada Smith. Story lines in the game don't come directly from the movie. They explore the known universe of all the "Matrix" characters. In fact, you can't even play the game as the film's central character, Neo. "That wouldn't work," says Soren Hannibal, Shiny Entertainment game programmer, "because Neo knows everything and he would just beat everybody." Game developer Mr. Perry says he was hoping for nothing more than a film clip or two that he could integrate into the game. Little did he realize that the game universe was as important to the "Matrix" mythology as the films themselves. "The actors had to do hundreds of scenes for the game," Perry says. One minor character who has just three lines in the film worked for 14 months on the "Matrix" game. "The Wachowski brothers have not just touched our industry," says Perry, "they've changed it." This appears to be the consensus around the film industry as well. Will Smith, husband of "Matrix" co-star Jada Pinkett, was at the event, toting their child. The whole "Matrix" world is a knock upside the head, he said. "These guys didn't copy anybody, they tried to reinvent something and make it brand new," he added. "Anytime someone does that is great energy for the entire industry." The film's star, Keanu Reeves, was circumspect about his own role. "I'm just an actor taking part in their vision," he said. But the vision is big, he added. "This is a groundbreaking endeavor," the whole thing, he said, and then turned around to take in a vast Warner Brothers soundstage awash in Matrix moments being played out on screens across the floor. "Any time you break ground, you get new things coming from it."
From: E! Online (The Detail is here) Ted Casablanca's Awful TruthKeanu Reeves, smoking up a storm outside of the Wiltern Theater at the Paul Weller show. Joined by a posse of pals, the Matrix mahn was wearing the same old knit wool cap and black threads--all right, already. And despite his nicotine frenzy, K.R.'s skin was the picture of perfection, nearly as glowing as Sela's. Burning rubber instead of his lungs was...
From: Sydeny Morning Herald (The Detail is here) Neo classic
February 15 2003 Garry Maddox dodges the hype for a sneak peek at the eagerly awaited Matrix sequels. The actors file into a small building at Sydney's Fox Studios. There is Keanu Reeves, who plays computer hacker turned saviour of humanity Neo; Carrie-Anne Moss, better known as the black leather-clad Trinity; Laurence Fishburne, the Zen-like rebel leader Morpheus, and Hugo Weaving, who plays the relentless Agent Smith. For close on 200 days they have been filming the two sequels to the sci-fi blockbuster The Matrix in the giant soundstages across the road. Now it's time to talk, but it is bear-like Hollywood producer Joel Silver who provides the colour. Never one for understatement, Silver declares that the visual effects in two of this year's most anticipated films were so time-consuming and expensive that they will never be repeated. "I really think that the bar has been raised so high that there is no more bar," he says. The two films will have cost more than $US300 million ($508 million) to make - initially with a shoot on a specially constructed three-kilometre freeway in California, before shifting continents to Fox Studios, then back to California for another miniatures shoot. So, the hype has begun. And it will be going full-blast by the time The Matrix Reloaded reaches screens in May, followed by The Matrix Revolutions in November. The success of the original Matrix in 1999 makes selling the sequels relatively easy - the first teaser trailer, which appeared last year, was downloaded from the net more than 2 million times within 72 hours. The promotional campaign took a giant Neo-style leap forward when Newsweek declared "The Year of The Matrix" on its cover recently. There was another mighty step when a high-energy commercial aired during the top-rating Superbowl telecast in the US. It showed Reeves fighting a small army of replica Agent Smiths, more gravity-defying fight scenes that were a trademark of the original, a furious motorcycle chase along a freeway, an agent crushing a car and Neo soaring over a city. In a hauntingly topical statement, a sombre Morpheus declared: "This is a war and we are soldiers." Just released on the net is the first of nine animated shorts, devised by The Matrix writers Andy and Larry Wachowski, called The Animatrix. The remainder are due for release either online or DVD by midyear. Together, they sketch a Matrix back story, including details of the machines' rise to power and the enslavement of the human race. One of these films, the nine-minute The Final Flight of the Osiris, will screen with the worldwide release in March of director Lawrence Kasdan's supernatural thriller Dreamcatcher. So, as well as revolutionising visual effects and redefining the action film, the Wachowskis are pioneering the return of the short before the main feature in cinemas. Inevitably there is also a video game, Enter the Matrix, due at the same time as the first sequel. And a tricked-out Samsung mobile phone, just like the one Neo and his cohorts will use, is heading to stores. To appreciate why the hype is building, you have to go back to where it began. Shot in Sydney by the Wachowskis, who had previously only made the thriller Bound, The Matrix became an unexpected international blockbuster. It was set in a dark atmospheric future run by machines that enslave humans to extract the energy produced by their bodies. After meeting an all-knowing oracle, Neo becomes The One who can save humanity. It quickly became a classic sci-fi film - up there with 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bladerunner, Alien and Star Wars. Costing about $US65 million to make, the film took $US458 million in cinemas around the world. It won four Academy awards: for editing, sound-effects editing, visual effects and sound, which brought golden statuettes for Australians Steve Courtley and David Lee. Even non-sci-fi fans appreciated the engaging story, philosophical reflections, action-film pace, cool style and groundbreaking special effects that included 360-degree multi-camera action shots. Imitating Keanu Reeves dodging slow-moving bullets quickly became a staple of commercials and Hollywood comedies, including Shrek and Charlie's Angels. Although some critics faulted its plot and structure, The Matrix was a successful Hollywood stew that drew on Eastern philosophy, kung fu films, the Bible, comic books, Alice in Wonderland, other sci-fi pics and Japanese anime. The film had another hugely successful life on DVD, where its layers and visual effects could be appreciated. It is said to have sold 25 million videos and DVDs. Even its biggest fans might not have seen the Japanese animated film Ghost in the Shell, made in 1995. It features a cyborg with a jack in the back of the head, streaming code, bodies transferring down telephone lines, virtual memories and experiences, kung-fu fights and black helicopters hovering in a futuristic urban landscape. However much they drew on this film, the two little-known brothers from Chicago created a cinematic universe with its own integrity in The Matrix. In the second and third instalments they are expected to take us into Zion - the last remaining haven for humans - then to a showdown between Neo and the forces of evil. After endless speculation and fake scripts written by fans on the net, Reeves gave one of the first glimpses of what happens to his character at the Sydney press conference. "The story goes outside the Matrix and starts to concern itself with machines in Zion. He is told by the Oracle that he has - it's not destiny - choices that he will have to make that will affect the survival of the human race." As fans of the Star Wars series can attest, the challenge is maintaining the storytelling without being dazzled by the technological possibilities for new visual effects. Reloaded reputedly begins with the machines having learned the location of Zion near the earth's core. They plan to tunnel down and use thousands of sentinels - squid-like kamikazis - to obliterate the city. Revealing more of the plot than some cinema-goers will want, Newsweek said the humans' only hope is to track down a tiny character called the Keymaker, who has access to all the doors into the machine world. He is being guarded by the Twins, albinos with blond dreadlocks who can vanish and reappear like ghosts. In the absence of comment from the Wachowskis - they apparently have a clause in their contract which excuses them from doing any publicity for their films - Silver insists the sequels will be more than just escapist action. "It's so weird to say this but it's a treatise on our times and where we're going and how to not go there. It's about global warming and the Catholic Church. It's about all that stuff that's going on in our lives that we can't really grab on to." Maybe so, but the build-up is, at least, now tangible. The Matrix Reloaded opens on May 15. The Matrix Revolutions opens November 7.
From: Empire (The Detail is here) Matrix Magic
Yes, it's the start of the week, and yes, it's raining outside but spirits leaped, hearts quickened and general joie de vivre was restored here at Empire Towers when we caught a more than enticing glimpse of The Matrix Reloaded in all its glory. And boy, is it good. Posted by some enterprising souls at Matrixfans.net, the unofficial sneak peek comes in the form of a recent trailer released in Japan and adds more than a few brand new details to the eye-popping images of Neo's return that we've already lapped up. Most intriguing of all perhaps would be the shots of Neo's body and face being invaded by a black, metallic beastie – trust us, watch the clip and you'll know what we mean – while Trinity's acrobatics just seem to get better. So for a touch of Morpheus magic, some jaw-dropping action and Neo and Trinity getting it well and truly on, click here and follow the links to the Mirror sites for the trailer. And if that doesn't satisfy your ravenous hunger for a red pill of your very own, our best advice is to head towards the official site for the latest pics and await our shout when we in the UK are treated to our next update. All in all, a better tonic for Monday morning blues surely cannot be found.
From: ScreenDaily.com (The Detail is here) Village Roadshow ups funding capacity in Warner co-financing deal
Bidding to play a part in more "tentpole" pictures and increase its range of options, Village Roadshow Pictures (VRP), the five-year-old production arm of Australian-based Village Roadshow Limited (VRL), announced today (Feb 11) that it had boosted its co-financing deal with Warner Bros by committing a revolving $1bn. The investment applies to the studio's current and upcoming pictures and includes the two scheduled Matrix sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, which are due out in May and November. Bruce Berman, chairman and CEO of Village Roadshow Pictures Entertainment, said the funding boost signified confidence in the partnership and would allow VRP to broaden its scope. "When we started out five years ago there were budget limits that are no longer applicable now," he told Screen Daily. "We can really replicate on a smaller scale the same kind of portfolio the studios use with less expensive movies, medium-budget movies and expensive ones." VRP and Warner Bros first collaborated on Analyze This and The Matrix in 1998. Warner Bros will continue to be the exclusive distributor for the pictures on a worldwide basis, with the exception of Australia, New Zealand, Greece and Singapore, which will continue to be handled by Village Roadshow's theatrical distribution operations. "Financing for VRP films is the same now as it was before, with the same lead bank and primary partner; it's just that we'll have greater flexibility with the films we can choose," Berman added. VRP will continue to be involved in an annual average of six to eight titles, which Berman said could rise to 10 some years, although there was "no hard-and-fast rule". As an example of VRP's greater flexibility Berman pointed out the company's investment in Troy, the historical epic starring Brad Pitt and Eric Bana to be directed by Wolfgang Petersen and due out in summer 2004. "This is a project we might not have been able to do under our old financing strategy. We were originally offered the chance to co-produce The Perfect Storm but couldn't do it at the time. Now we will be able to participate in a wider variety of some of the more important tentpoles. It's exciting that in a world where media companies are getting squeezed we are more robust than ever and both our parent companies and financial backers feel they want this relationship and this company to be expanded." To date, pictures from Warner Bros and VRP include The Matrix, Ocean's Eleven, Space Cowboys, Deep Blue Sea, Cats & Dogs, Analyze This, Training Day and, from Castle Rock, Miss Congeniality and Two Weeks Notice. This year's collaborations include the Matrix sequels, the Clint Eastwood thriller Mystic River, the Ice Cube action picture Torque and, with Castle Rock, the Stephen King horror adaptation Dreamcatcher. A provisional 2004 release slate includes Troy, Taking Lives and Ocean's Twelve, Steven Soderbergh's sequel to Ocean's Eleven. The financing for VRP films previously was made available through a special purpose off balance sheet entity, Village Roadshow Films (BVI) Limited (VRF), in which VRL had a 19.9% interest. VRL has bought out the existing shareholders and provided 100% of the increased (effective) equity and, as a consequence, VRF will now be consolidated as a subsidiary. VRF's borrowing limit has been increased from $750m to $900m. Given the increased VRL contributions, the revolving facility continues to be limited recourse and involves a syndicate of banks, led by CIBC World Markets, which extends for three years through to Jan 2006.
From: Kansas City Star (The Detail is here) `Matrix' game takes tie-ins to a new level
Posted on Mon, Feb. 10, 2003 `Matrix' game takes tie-ins to a new level By BOB KEEFE The 1999 movie hit "The Matrix," featuring the slow-motion martial arts skills of star Keanu Reeves, is a peek into a fantastical future. But the movie's sequel could usher in the real future of Hollywood entertainment. When "The Matrix Reloaded" hits the big screen this May, producers plan to simultaneously roll out a ground-breaking video game, "Enter the Matrix." It features a plot that weaves in and out of the movie's, and includes video scenes starring the film's actors that were shot exclusively for the game. "The Matrix's" makers also are hitting the Web with a series of nine downloadable animated films -- modern-day comics of sorts -- based on the movies but written and produced exclusively for the Internet. The first one is already up at whatisthematrix.com. The high-tech triple assault on the senses is a harbinger of the growing convergence between film and video games. It also exactly what writer-directors Andy and Larry Wachowski had in mind when planning their trilogy of "Matrix" movies, explained producer Joel Silver. Also due late this year is "The Matrix Revolutions." "They really wanted to tell the story in multiple venues," Silver said. The movies, the game and the animated Internet films are linked, but also separate, he said. "If the audience doesn't see (the animated films), if they don't play the video game, they're still going to love `The Matrix,' " Silver said. Like their big-screen cousins, the animated films use cutting-edge computer graphics technology. At an invitation-only premiere of the first of the films and the video game at a Warner Brothers studio last week, the cartoon characters were so lifelike they could hardly be distinguished from real-life actors in the film. The animated shorts are free, but the game is designed to be big a profit-maker, just like the movies. The plot was written under the supervision of the Wachowskis, and as a result is more intimately tied to the films than any previous movie-related game. Also, video scenes produced exclusively for the game -- a full hour's worth -- were shot by the Wachowskis during the making of the movie. The footage and the plot of the game are intended to pick where scenes in the movie left off, and vice versa. Lastly, the actors from the movie also star in the game, both as animations and in film. Actor Anthony Wong described the 15-month production of "The Matrix Reloaded" as a mixture of filming for the big screen and for the computer screen. "We had to do a lot of acting in these special motion-capture suits," Wong said. "It was kind of bizarre, because they sort of look like clown suits." The elaborate coordination soon could be commonplace. Video game sales are surging. Spurred by the success of consoles like Nintendo's GameCube, Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox, the gaming industry's growth last year is estimated at between 7 percent and 14 percent, according to game research company DFC Intelligence. (The news isn't all good though. Despite the surge, Game makers still saw their market value decline by some 35 percent in the past year. Analysts think that's an indication the product is overhyped and overpriced.) For better or for worse, expensively made techno-thrillers like "The Matrix" that appeal to the core under-30 gaming crowd are leading the way. Ties between games and movies are likely to only grow stronger as game makers continue looking for new titles. "The lines between Hollywood films and video games are really blurring," Wong said. Ironically, the makers of "The Matrix" films turned to an icon of video gaming's past for their future-minded venture. Atari, which brought the world "Pong," produced "Enter the Matrix," which will be available for most breeds of consoles and for the PC. "This is a new revolution in interactive entertainment," said Bruno Bonnell, chairman of Infogrames Inc., which now owns the Atari brand. "Not only can you watch "The Matrix," you can live it, breathe it and actually be one of the characters in it." For both the movie producers and Infogrames, the venture is a big bet. Paying computer geeks to create games and animated films in a warehouse is one thing; paying big-name actors to star in them and movie directors and producers to back them is another. In an interview, Bonnell declined to say how much it cost to make "Enter the Matrix," but admitted it was substantial. "It's definitely one of the highest production costs in the industry," he said. Asked what would happen to the game if the movie doesn't do well, Bonnell answered with pure Hollywood optimism. "It won't," he said. "That just won't happen."
From: Warner Home Video (The Detail is here) Warner Home Video and Village Roadshow Pictures Present ``The Animatrix,'' a Groundbreaking Collection of Nine Short Films From the Creators of ''The Matrix'' Trilogy
Thursday February 6, 12:36 pm ET Featuring Techno Soundtrack Including Juno Reactor, Death in Vegas, Meat Beat Manifesto & More; Music Supervised By DJ Jason Bentley; Worldwide Release June 3 on DVD & VHS BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 6, 2003-- After breaking domestic and international box-office and DVD sales records, garnering four Academy Awards® and setting the standard by which all futuristic action films are measured, "The Matrix" is poised to break new ground with the highly-anticipated release of Warner Home Video and Village Roadshow Pictures' "The Animatrix." An unprecedented fusion of CG-animation and Japanese anime, "The Animatrix" is a collection of nine original short films conceived by the Wachowski Brothers, the creators of "The Matrix" trilogy. Inspired by the visionary action and innovative storytelling that power the trilogy, this spectacularly visual short film series delves deeper into the mind-bending world of "The Matrix" and the characters who inhabit it. Created in the anime style pioneered by Japanese animation artists and helmed by world-renowned anime directors, "The Animatrix" also features the voices of actors Keanu Reeves (Neo) and Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity) in two of the shorts. One complete episode from "The Animatrix," "The Final Flight of the Osiris," will accompany the worldwide release of the supernatural thriller "Dreamcatcher" when it debuts in theaters on March 21. Written by Larry and Andy Wachowski, this nine-minute computer-generated short serves as an explosive prelude to "The Matrix Reloaded." "The Animatrix" debuts worldwide on DVD and videocassette on June 3, between the release of the next two films in "The Matrix" trilogy - "The Matrix Reloaded," which opens theatrically on May 15, followed by "The Matrix Revolutions," which debuts in theaters in November. "The Animatrix" will be available on DVD for $24.98 SRP/$19.95 MAP and on VHS for $19.98 SRP/$13.95 MAP from Warner Home Video (WHV). "The Animatrix" features an eclectic techno soundtrack supervised by renowned DJ/producer/remixer Jason Bentley with some of today's hottest electronica artists such as Juno Reactor, Death in Vegas, Meat Beat Manifesto and others. The original score for the project is provided by Don Davis, who crafted the music for all three films in "The Matrix" trilogy. "The Animatrix" features short films directed by some of the world's premier anime filmmakers, including:
To generate early awareness for the release, fans will be able to view several complete episodes before street date as well as learn more about "The Animatrix" by visiting www.theanimatrix.com. "The Animatrix" DVD Features "The Animatrix" DVD is highlighted by the following special features: Scrolls to Screen - The History and Culture of AnimeSeven "making-of" featurettes including director profiles featuring interviews and behind-the-scenes looks at each filmFour audio commentaries (featured on the films "The Second Renaissance Pt. 1 & 2," "Program" and "World Record") - all with Japanese audio and English subtitlesEnter the Matrix Game Trailer - exclusive look into the creation of the "Enter The Matrix" video game, featuring interviews from some of the film's stars including Jada Pinkett and Carrie-Anne Moss BASICS With operations in 78 international territories -- more than the video division of any other studio -- Warner Home Video commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video's film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment Company, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment. Note: Photo material can be downloaded at www.whvdirect.com
From: Boston Globe (The Detail is here) Take two
In the new Hollywood, filmmakers are joining forces with video game companies. And their collaborations, from 'The Matrix' to 'The Lord of the Rings,' are a cross-marketing bonanza. By Chris Gaither, Globe Staff, 2/10/2003 BURBANK, Calif. - Flash bulbs popped outside Warner Brothers' private theater, as photographers jostled to shoot the stars of the upcoming sequels to the smash film ''The Matrix.'' ''Over here, Kee-yah-noooo,'' the paparazzi shouted, begging the actor Keanu Reeves, slouching in a black suit and knit ski-hat, to turn toward them. The red carpet shuffle is a common scene here in Hollywood, but the cause that brought Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Jada Pinkett Smith, and other stars together was an unusual one: They were promoting a video game. When released on May 15, the same day as ''The Matrix Reloaded,'' the second film in the trilogy, the ''Enter the Matrix'' game will raise the stakes in the increasingly cozy relationship between the film industry and its younger (but fast-growing) cousin in on-screen entertainment, video games. Written by the film's directors themselves and featuring an hour of footage they shot exclusively for the game, both firsts in the 25-year-old games business, ''Enter the Matrix'' is being billed as an extension of the creative vision that helped the first Matrix film gross $450 million in international box-office receipts. ''This is really an attempt to integrate what the filmmakers did with the movie into the game, so actually the game is part of the movie,'' said Hollywood veteran Joel Silver, who produced the Matrix trilogy. ''These filmmakers wanted to tell this story in all these different ways. Other filmmakers, I believe, will see that and say, `I want to do that, too.''' For years, the film industry has watched video game sales rocket upward, becoming a $10 billion business, and sought to ride that popularity. Filmmakers are making cartoons and movies based on popular games like ''Tomb Raider,'' sharing footage and early scripts to enmesh the games more closely to the films, and lending their stars' voices to the games. The cooperation has paid off, with games based on blockbuster films among the top-grossing titles last year. ''Harry Potter,'' ''James Bond,'' ''Lord of the Rings,'' and ''Spider-Man'' games each sold millions of copies, at about $50 each. Overall, sales of video game software and hardware reached $10.3 billion last year, rising 10 percent from 2001 even as other industries slumped, according to market research firm NPD Funworld. ''Video gaming has reached the mainstream,'' said Kathy Vrabeck, an executive vice president with Activision, publisher of the ''Spider-Man'' game. ''It's another form of entertainment that's competing for the same entertainment dollar.'' Merely slapping a movie title onto a video game offers no guarantee of success, however. Through much of the 1990s, publishers would pay millions of dollars to license forthcoming films, then skimp on development costs or rush games to completion. Game players are not easily fooled. ''The game license provides you with more instant brand recognition, and you can ride on the movie's hype,'' Vrabeck said. ''But if, at its core, the game is no good, you've wasted your money.'' And no matter how strong a game, it is usually doomed by a movie's flop. Microsoft Corp. announced in 2001 that it had licensed the rights to make three Xbox console games and one PC game based on Steven Spielberg's film, ''A.I.'' But the movie disappointed at the box office, and Microsoft never released the games. Activision's ''Minority Report'' sold poorly, which many analysts blame at least partially on the fact that Activision was unable to secure a license to use Tom Cruise's likeness in the game. Yet games based on movies turned an important corner last year, with the success of many titles, including ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,'' which sold 9 million copies across all game platforms. Game publishers are willing to pay more money for licensing rights for major films, and filmmakers are sharing more of their early scripts, shots, and creative plans with game producers. ''The new generation who's coming in grew up playing video games,'' said Steven L. Kent, author of the book, ''The Ultimate History of Video Games.'' ''Now many of the biggest actors have a PlayStation 2 in their dressing room, and they're playing it between takes. Steven Spielberg is a game addict.'' The increasing cooperation is evident on the cluttered walls of a studio in the Redwood City, Calif., office of Electronic Arts, the largest game publisher. Storylines plotting the paths of the main characters in ''Lord of the Rings'' stretch 15 feet down the hallway. In a work room, gruesome creatures called Orcs and Uruk-Hai snarl at hobbits from photos sent from New Line Cinema's New Zealand production rooms, where editors are completing the final film in the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy. Across each carefully guarded photo, the name of the games' executive producer, Neil Young, is stamped in red. ''That's the security price you pay so it's clear who New Line would come after if any of this stuff found its way onto the Internet,'' said Young, an EA vice president. During his decade-long career, Young, 32, has created games based on such films as ''Aladdin,'' ''Demolition Man,'' ''Terminator,'' and ''Aliens.'' But the cooperation he received from the director and producers of ''Lord of the Rings'' far surpassed any of those projects, he says: countless visits to the film sets in New Zealand, hours of chats with director Peter Jackson about the direction he planned to take the film, and unlimited access to the technical data used to create the computer-generated worlds in the film that won it an Academy Award for special effects. By manipulating the elements of the computer-generated images, EA created a game whose storyline closely mirrors the first two ''Lord of the Rings'' films. ''What is composited together in the audience's mind during the film, we actually bring to life as something that you can explore in the game,'' Young said. The game won critical acclaim and sold 3 million copies, but its makers were bound by the vision set forth by Jackson. In the Matrix game, however, the visionaries behind the motion picture and the video game are the same people. Andy and Larry Wachowski, the brothers who wrote and directed ''The Matrix,'' allowed the game's producers to use the film's state-of-the-art equipment to digitally capture the movements of each actor. Characters can replicate some of the most distinctive fighting techniques from the first film, including slowing down time, dodging bullets, and climbing walls to kick foes in the face - Wachowski brothers trademarks. ''They were just as intense on what they desired for the video game as for the movie,'' said Pinkett Smith, who arrived at the game premiere with her movie star husband, Will Smith, and 4-year-old son Jaden. ''I respect their creativity, and that's how I felt about the game. No matter what, I know they're going to take it to a whole other level.'' The Wachowski brothers also wrote a 244-page script for the game that made it not just a playable version of the film, but an important piece of their storytelling canvas. Though the characters played by Reeves, Fishburne, and Moss affect the game, it centers around Niobe, played by Pinkett Smith, and Ghost, played by Anthony Wong - two relatively minor characters in ''The Matrix Reloaded'' and the third installment, ''The Matrix Revolutions,'' due this fall. The game lays out a parallel storyline to the film, with the two intersecting at times to explain elements of the film. ''There are things you can learn in the game that help you with the movie,'' Silver said. Video game technology still has major strides to make before games become the visual equal of film. Infogrames, the publisher of ''Enter the Matrix,'' footed most of the bill for the party at Warner Bros., but its game faced a tough comparison against the third element in the Wachowski brothers' ambitious storytelling medium. ''Enter the Matrix'' followed a clip for ''The Animatrix,'' a nine-part animated series of short films that tells the history of the Matrix. The exquisite details in the characters' skin and their fluidity put their counterparts in the video game to shame. Yet the next round of game consoles, expected in 2005 or 2006, will pack more processing might and support games that move even closer to resembling films. Sony has said that the next-generation of PlayStation will be 1,000 times more powerful than PlayStation 2, which could result in game characters that are indistinguishable from movie characters. The success of games like ''Enter the Matrix'' will help decide how closely those games resemble the films that spawned them. ''These are the people who make movies happen, and they are all here supporting this video game,'' Dave Perry, director of Shiny Development, the Infogrames studio that made the game, said at the Matrix party, sweeping his hand toward the producers in the crowd. ''It's on Hollywood's radar like never before.'' Chris Gaither can be reached at gaither@globe.com.
From: Beacon Journal (The Detail is here) Sequels, extra products for `Matrix' may live up to hype
Internet release of animated shorts primes fans for eagerly anticipated filmsBy George M. Thomas It would be easy to dismiss the hype that's about to engulf the movie world with The Matrix sequels this year. I was prepared to thumb my nose at all of the propaganda and marketing -- no matter how wonderfully original the first film was. Not anymore. Matrix universe creators Andy and Larry Wachowski are working to enhance the mythology associated with the film. The most recent example: the release on the Internet of The Second Renaissance Part I, the first of nine short films that will eventually make up the DVD The Animatrix. Computer servers, prepare to crash, because this short feature, which combines computer-generated and Japanese (anime) animation, will be a must once word spreads. Scripted by the Wachowskis, it's a compelling piece of filmmaking, despite its brevity and the limited scope that a computer monitor offers. Renaissance offers a glimpse into the Matrix world's past, when the rule of men began to end. The narrative keeps your eyes fixed on the screen, and you can rewind and fast forward after the initial download. The first installment leaves you craving the next one, but, sorry, you'll have to wait until March. One installment of the series -- The Final Flight of the Osiris -- will play before screenings of the Warner Bros. film The Dreamcatcher, scheduled for release March 21. The Matrix: Reloaded will open in theaters May 15 and The Matrix: Revolutions will debut Nov. 7.
From: New Yoyk Post (The Detail is here) 'MATRIX' SEQUELS? WE'RE GAME!
By BEN BERKOWITZ February 10, 2003 -- LET'S just decide right now to call 2003 "The Year of the Matrix." Not only does the blockbuster movie have two hotly anticipated sequels scheduled to hit screens in the next few months, but there's a sought-after video game heading to stores. "Enter the Matrix," the most ambitious effort yet to marry high-powered Tinseltown talent with high-tech video game production, was given a red-carpet premiere last week by movie studio Warner Bros. and French games publisher Infogrames. The game and the next two "Matrix" films - "The Matrix Reloaded" (due in May) and "The Matrix Revolutions" (November) - are virtually one and the same, since Larry and Andy Wachowski, who wrote and directed the movies, also wrote the game and shot an hour of original footage with the cast of the films just for it. "I just think it's great intermixing those mediums," said Jada Pinkett Smith, who stars in "Matrix Reloaded" and features prominently in the game. The offerings need each other to be successful: A big-ticket "Matrix" sequel will draw attention to the video game, while a popular Matrix video game will make people want to see the two sequels. - Reuters/Variety
From: Hardware (The Detail is here) First Look:Enter the Matrix
Previews | Posted By Battousai on Friday, 7th of February, 2003 DarthGW reports :: Infogrames releases new details on and screenshots from its upcoming game based on The Matrix series of movies. Prelude Infogrames has released some new details on Enter the Matrix, which is currently in development at Shiny Entertainment. In the game, players will take control of Niobe or Ghost, two characters that are a part of the rebellious faction led by Morpheus, Trinity, and Neo. Both characters travel on a ship called the Logos where Niobe is the captain and Ghost is the weapons specialist. In addition, the game will feature a number of different gameplay elements ranging from hacking (which will let players unlock secrets) to driving, fighting (1000 martial arts moves were motion captured), and shooting. Bullet-time will also be involved in different parts of the game. The story for Enter the Matrix coincides with parts of the upcoming film, The Matrix: Reloaded, so players can expect to see scenes from the film as well as areas that are unique to the game. The makers of the upcoming film have extensively collaborated with the development team at Shiny Entertainment. Co-directors Larry and Andy Wachowski wrote the story and script, gave input on different design elements, and even directed new scenes specifically for the game. The films' choreographer, Yuen Wo-Ping, also directed the martial arts sequences. Enter the Matrix is scheduled for release on the Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube, and PC on May 15.
From: Game Spot (The Detail is here) Infogrames shows off Enter the Matrix
Infogrames and Shiny take the wraps off the multiplatform title based on the movie franchise. At a press event held on a Warner Bros. studio lot Tuesday night, Infogrames and developer Shiny Entertainment showed off the first of their games based on the popular The Matrix franchise. The game is slated for release on the GameCube, PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox platforms under the Atari brand and will be based on the upcoming The Matrix Reloaded movie due this May. Rather than try to create a game that closely follows the events seen in the upcoming film, Shiny worked with Matrix creators Larry and Andy Wachowski to create a story that would allow the game to tell an original tale that will intertwine with events and characters from the film and expand on the movie's narrative. The game will focus on two characters, Niobe and Ghost, although characters such as Neo and Trinity will also make appearances as the story unfolds. The event began with the premiere of The Final Flight of the Osiris, a CG movie short introduced by producer Joel Silver. Silver stated that the short was the next step in the continuing story of the world of The Matrix. The short is part of a series of shorts called The Animatrix that will all tie into the film series' narrative. Silver stated that the shorts will be distributed in a variety of ways, noting that the first of the shorts would be available on animatrix.com later in the evening free of charge. The shorts are part of an idea the Wachowskis had to tell the story of The Matrix across a variety of mediums. The Final Flight of the Osiris will open theatrically on March 21 and precede the Castle Rock film The Dreamcatcher. The Final Flight of the Osiris starts the saga that will be completed in the two upcoming The Matrix movies, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. The piece, which ran roughly 16 minutes and featured work from Square USA that surpassed the impressive work done in the Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, opened with a slick fight sequence between an Asian woman named Jue and an African-American man named Thaddeus. The pair fight with swords and hack away at each other's gi's until they are both left standing in their underwear. The playful bout is cut short following a message that prompts them to leave their virtual training room and return to the real world--the interior of a ship called the Osiris, where Thaddeus is informed that the ship is being tracked by a pack of sentinels. As the ship attempts to lose the mechanoids, it stumbles upon something that threatens Zion, the last bastion of humanity. Faced with overwhelming odds, Thaddeus sends Jue into the matrix with a warning for Zion. While Jue delivers the message--in the form of a package--in the matrix, it's unclear if it will reach Zion in time. Following the short, Silver stated that the story begun in The Last Flight of the Osiris would continue in the game and introduced a trailer for the Enter the Matrix games. The trailer featured snippets of the game's story, which appears to focus on the race to find the mysterious package and retrieve its message before humanity is lost. How much of the game's plot is connected with the movie's was unclear, but Silver stated that playing through the game would give people a broader understanding of the overall story. The presentation ended with comments from Infogrames' Bruno Bonnell, Shiny Entertainment's Dave Perry, and the game's cast, including Jada Pinkett Smith.
From: Game pro (The Detail is here) Enter the Matrix: The Interviews [Part 1]
07-FEB-03 Shortly after the grand unveiling of Infogrames' Enter the Matrix earlier this week, GamePro had a chance to participate in a Q&A with Shiny front man Dave Perry. Known for his work on Earthworm Jim and (more recently) Sacrifice, Perry sheds light on this huge project that has already set new standards in the connection between a movie property and its gaming counterpart. Question: How long have you been working on the game?Dave Perry: We signed the deal with Warner on February 2001, but the Wachowskis already knew exactly what they wanted way before that. When we actually put pen to paper, they already had written the script. They basically had an arc for the story and knew exactly how it all fit together. They knew the beginning, the middle, and the end, and they had got it right down to the point where they would say to me "okay, you're in this situation and then you get this and you gotta head to the front door, but the front door is sealed and the police start closing in on you." They describe things in terms of feeling, like we want you to feel this or we want you to feel that, and so ultimately they had a very clear vision of what they wanted to do. The interesting thing about the Wachowskis is that they seem to have watched every movie that's ever been made and they remember each scene. So they quote everything in scenes from other movies, so after every conversation I would go to Amazon.com and buy a bunch of random movies and fast forward to find the scene they wanted. They definitely knew what they wanted for sure. Some of what Dave Perry's team built for Enter The Matrix is "just insane". What on earth does he have in mind for us poor gamers? Q: What was the interaction between you and the Wachowskis like? Q: What was the biggest challenge or curveball the Wachowskis threw at you that you were able to overcome? Q: You mentioned you were able to develop across all platforms at once. Did you have a lead platform, or were you aiming for the lowest common denominator? Q: Was it challenging to get each platform's controls to feel the same? Q: Describe the hacking portion of the gameplay. Q: Describe the hovercraft portion of the game. Q: Was the idea to have both characters playable something the Wachowskis had planned? Q: Can you give an example? Q: How different are the routes each character takes through the game? Q: Are there any DVD-esque extras that will be included in the game?
From: Lightsout Entertainment (The Detail is here) EXCLUSIVE: ENTER THE MATRIX video interviews!
Tuesday, February 4th, 2003 - Warner Bros. Studios Thanks to Joel Silver, the man that constructed so many magical movie moments in my life, Tuesday night was a night to remember. A huge press junket was held for two events which coincide with the release of this year's Matrix films, The Matrix Reloaded & The Matrix Revolutions. Part of the action surrounded hype for the Animatrix anime series which comes to DVD on June 3rd, and which serves as a backstory to characters within the Matrix realm. We were treated to an unbelievable CGI sequence which kicks off The Animatrix, entitled "Final Flight Of Osiris". "Flight" showcased a amazing fight training simulator sequence between two characters. The characters are then pulled out of their simulation only to realize that they, along with their crew, have stumbled upon a breeding ground of sorts of thousands sentinels which are trying to make their way into the underground city of 'Zion'. Without spoiling it for anyone, the sequence of action packed scenes that take place after the crew is discovered by the hell-bent sentinels is mind boggling. The CGI is set at even higher standard then that of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within which would be expected since the same team worked on both projects. With the spirit of Anime intact, set against the cyber-techno-apocolyptic world of The Matrix, The Animatrix is going to prove as a very welcome companion to the world of this incredible series of movies. Catch "Final Flight Of Osiris", which serves as a sort of prequel to The Matrix Reloaded, attached to copies of Dreamcatcher which hits theaters March 21st. Enter The Matrix, the video game coming soon to a platform near you. This was the main event, or as it would seem since this whole shin dig was put on by the folks Infogrames. I got a chance to play the PS2 version game a bit at the after party. Playing like any other search and destroy type of action game, Enter The Matrix bumps it up a few notches by adding many of the aspects of the movie into the game. The Wachowski brothers went and filmed tons of new, game exclusive footage just for the overall experience of the game. Supposedly parts of the game will fill in elements of the plot that might seem a little vague in the film. With my actual hands on experience of the game, I can say that the fighting system could use a little bit of tweaking. I noticed as I played Jada Pinkett Smith's that I couldn't really control the combos as well as I would have liked. There was also what seemed to be a tiny bit of a glitch where a 'bad guy' would be about to be taken out, in which the game goes into 'cool Matrix mode' and does a slow motion preview of the kill, but the fight would not be over and the slow motion would still be commencing. It might have been a little too much. Aside from my pickiness, Enter The Matrix should be enthralling to any Matrix fan as well as any hardcore action gamer! The stars walked down the black carpet to talk to the press about the game as well as the new anime series.We'll let the interviews speak for themselves!Take a look at some of the interviews we caught on tape!
From: Lightsout Entertainment (The Detail is here) EXCLUSIVE: ENTER THE MATRIX video interviews!
Feb. 6, 2003, 5:10PM Filmmakers promise 'Matrix' was just the beginning By RENE LYNCHLos Angeles Times HOLLYWOOD -- Eye-popping special effects? Check. Computer-generated humans? Check. A story line that aims to appease the cultish fans of The Matrix, who have been waiting four years to find out the fate of humanity? Double-check. Few sequels have been greeted with as much anticipation -- and as many high expectations -- as the final installments of The Matrix trilogy: The Matrix Reloaded, which opens in May, followed by The Matrix Revolutions in November. The first movie sparked a revolution in moviemaking, delivering a mind-bending look at the future and stunning visuals. Its greatest strength, however, came from an emotionally gripping plot. That's a tough act to follow. But producer Joel Silver insists Reloaded and Revolutions aren't simply sequels offering contrived variations on the same theme. From the start, writers-directors-brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski envisioned a tale that unfolds in three parts like a superheroes comic book sprung to life. The Matrix served as the introduction to this world in which reality is turned inside out. Keanu Reeves, left, and Hugo Weaving battle in the first Matrix movies. The film's creators say effects such as this were widely copied in other films, but their new effects will be inimitable. "The story continues to be everything. It's the driving force," Silver said in his office at Warner Bros., the studio releasing the films. For Matrix newbies, the trilogy is set in a dark, dreary future run by machines that enslave humans in a dreamlike state to extract the energy produced by their bodies. An alienated computer hacker, Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, is rescued from this captivity after an all-knowing oracle anoints him "The One" -- as in the one who unknowingly possesses the superhuman strength needed to save humanity. At first, Neo is filled with self-doubt. Eventually, he comes to believe in himself. Although some critics found fault with the film's plot and structure, the movie became a hit even among those who generally avoid sci-fi flicks. The Matrix, which cost about $65 million to make, earned more than $458 million in theaters worldwide. Twenty-five million videos (VHS and DVDs) were sold. It also won four Academy Awards (editing, sound-effects editing, visual effects and sound). The plots of Reloaded and Revolutions have been closely held secrets but take moviegoers into Zion -- the world's last remaining haven for humans -- and an epic showdown between Neo and the forces of evil, Silver said. Several characters will be back to help Neo, including his love interest, Trinity, played by Carrie-Anne Moss, and Morpheus, the rebel leader played by Laurence Fishburne, as they try to save the world. New arrivals include Niobe (Jada Pinkett-Smith), who is Morpheus' former lover and, like Morpheus, is captain of a rebel ship. Princeton scholar Cornel West has a role in both movies as a Zion elder. Like the first movie, the sequels continue to draw on a variety of sources, from Japanese anime to Eastern philosophy as well as kung fu films and the Bible, the kinds of concepts Matrix fans have relished dissecting and discussing. "All the ideas and concepts are there," Silver promised, "only better." The same goes for the computer-generated images and special effects in Reloaded and Revolutions, said John Gaeta, senior visual-effects supervisor. "This will be the most sophisticated depiction of humans ever that are not real, they are computer-generated," Gaeta said. That remains to be seen. But a few snippets of footage show astonishingly realistic images of Neo flying through the air and hint at the array of villains that Neo must combat to free humanity from increasingly sophisticated machine masters. Neo's nemesis, Agent Smith, is back, played by Hugo Weaving. In the first movie he possesses the ability to transport himself across virtual time and space as he attempts to hunt down and kill Neo. By Reloaded, Agent Smith's mutating powers have endowed him with the ability to replicate himself. In one of Reloaded's climactic scenes, Neo finds himself battling more than 100 Agent Smiths. "We wanted a chance to explore an event that was not possible to choreograph," Gaeta said. The result, he said, is a sequence in which Weaving's and Reeves' characters are digitally rendered and brought to life -- with moviegoers probably unable to tell the difference. Or so the filmmakers hope. The Wachowskis also wanted something so sophisticated that it couldn't be easily ripped off, Silver said. After the release of The Matrix, the groundbreaking techniques unveiled in that movie have since become old hat. Witness the 360-degree multicamera action shots that have shown up in everything from commercials to Shrek and Charlie's Angels. There will also be plenty of special effects, including the virtual land of Zion and the world of the machines, fantastic creatures who do battle, and acts of superhuman strength, Gaeta said. Interestingly enough, one of the most highly anticipated sequences in the trilogy's next installment -- a freeway chase against the flow of traffic -- could not be generated in a computer world, at least not yet. So the Wachowski brothers built a stretch of freeway on a retired naval base, at a cost of about $2.5 million. The two new movies cost more than $300 million to make, sources said. The price tag would have ballooned were it not for the decision to shoot all at once in Australia, where Hollywood can buy more with less because of the cheap Australian dollar. The team started in March 2001 with the most technologically challenging scenes -- Neo vs. Agent Smith, the freeway chase -- to give the six special-effects houses the maximum amount of time to perfect more than 2,000 shots. Shooting more than one sequel at a time isn't new -- all three installments of the Lord of the Rings films were shot at once, and the two Back to the Future sequels, also shot consecutively, were released six months apart, in November 1989 and May 1990. But with The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions coming out in the same calendar year, the prolonged multimedia marketing campaign threatens to dominate moviegoers' collective consciousness. Newsweek has already dubbed 2003 the Year of the Matrix. There will also be nine animated shorts titled The Animatrix; a few will be available online and all will hit DVD in June. One will be coupled with the March release of Lawrence Kasdan's film Dreamcatcher. Enter the Matrix, a video game, will be released at the same time as Reloaded. Combined, they sketch a Matrix back story, including details about the machines' rise to power and enslavement of humans. Coming soon everywhere, too, will be a tricked-out Samsung mobile phone just like the one Neo & Co. will use. Silver and the Wachowskis hope this will give Matrix junkies all they want and more -- and still avoid the type of marketing overkill that could turn off more casual fans and newcomers. That may be difficult if Reloaded and Revolutions approach the pop-cultural phenomenon that The Matrix did after its 1999 release; it spawned Internet fan sites and influenced fashion, music and moviemaking. "It's a concern," Silver conceded. "There is such a thing as too much."
From: MTV (The Detail is here) Keanu Reeves at "The Animatrix" premiere
Photo: MTV News "I like to make anything an exploit. Any scene will be obscene once I arrive." — Marilyn Manson BURBANK, California — Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith and Marilyn Manson walked the red carpet. A theater marquee reading "Enter the Matrix" loomed brightly over the flashing bulbs of the paparazzi. (Click here for photos from the premiere) It was exactly like a "Matrix" movie premiere — except for one thing. The "Matrix" film making its debut at the Warner Bros. lot Tuesday was only 10 minutes long. Part of a group of shorts called "The Animatrix," "Final Flight of the Osiris" was conceived by "Matrix" creators Larry and Andy Wachowski. Its story line ties into the upcoming "Enter the Matrix" video game, which premiere guests were given a chance to play. The game's plot will also impact this year's "Matrix" movie sequels, "The Matrix: Reloaded" and "The Matrix: Revolutions" (click here to read a sneak peek at the movies from Keanu Reeves). It allows gamers to fight as either Pinkett Smith's "Niobe" character or as "Ghost," a new hero played by Anthony Wong. An avid gamer herself, Jada was excited to try out "Enter the Matrix" on her rapper/actor husband. "When we play 'Resident Evil,' he's the controller, he's the one manipulating the buttons, the joystick, what have you," she said. "And I'm the brains. I'm like, 'Will, go to the left, go to the right, go up, go down, get that.' So it's going to be interesting playing this game [where] he's actually playing me." Scripted by the Wachowski brothers, "Enter the Matrix" required Jada to shoot several new scenes. Clips of "Matrix" regulars Fishburne, Reeves and Moss also appear in the game. "I find that the whole sound of video games drives me crazy," admitted Moss, who plays "Trinity" in the films (click here for photos from the trilogy). "[But] I'm open to the possibility of being into a video game. Maybe I'll be into one that I'm in — but maybe not. My husband is a huge fan of the whole video game thing [and] that's probably why. The whole sound of the whole thing can be a lot when you're not playing it." For Reeves, the story and the unique world view laid down in the smash 1999 original film lend themselves to all kinds of mediums. "It's the platform of the story, of having the aspect of a real world and a computer-generated world [and] the struggle that's inherent in that and the ideas that the brothers have put together in it — choices, reality, evolution, revolution. I think the platform itself — if you relate to it, and I think people do — lends itself to many different stories, because of the richness of the characters. If you care about it, there's lot of stories to tell about life and about how we live our lives." Fishburne, whose "Biker Boyz" film opened last week, said, "It was part of the Wachowski brothers' intention to utilize both [the film and video game] mediums to tell their story, which is pretty far-ahead thinking." The actor promised that the next two full-length "Matrix" movies will provide a look "further down the rabbit hole." Like Marilyn Manson, the world of "The Matrix" is very much inspired by "Alice in Wonderland." "I have a lot in common with Lewis Carroll — his inspiration, him tapping into the darker side of his mind," Manson said. "It's a book that I always loved growing up as a kid. I actually wrote many pieces of music related to 'Alice in Wonderland' in the past that were never really used for anything. So when I saw that [reference] in the first 'Matrix,' it made me very happy. And I'm a bit of a mad hatter." Though Marilyn Manson was technically at the premiere as a DJ, he mainly used the event as an opportunity to unleash a few tracks from his upcoming album, The Golden Age of Grotesque. "I wouldn't call myself a DJ. I'm just here as a fan and, well, I'm a dandy," he said. "And I like to make anything an exploit. Any scene will be obscene once I arrive. The Wachowski brothers used some Marilyn Manson [music] in the last film. And they stuck by me and we kind of stuck together when entertainment was being blamed for violence." The "Enter the Matrix" video game will be released May 15, the same day "The Matrix: Reloaded" hits theaters. "The Matrix: Revolutions" will follow November 7. Meanwhile, the film's Web site is streaming parts of "The Animatrix," which will be available later this year on DVD. For more Hollywood happenings, check out MTV's Movie House. —Ryan J. Downey
From: Reuters (The Detail is here) 'Matrix' Blurs Lines Between Video Game, Movies
Wed February 5, 2003 07:46 PM ET LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A movie about machines creating an alternate reality for enslaved humanity is turned into a video game that draws the pretty and the powerful from the movie business to a lavish party to be amused by machines. Virtual reality meets Hollywood. "Enter the Matrix," the most ambitious effort yet to marry high-powered Tinseltown talent with high-tech video game production, was given a red carpet premiere on Tuesday night by movie studio Warner Bros. and French games publisher Infogrames. The game and the next two "Matrix" films -- "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions" -- are virtually one and the same, since Larry and Andy Wachowski, who wrote and directed the movies, also wrote the game and shot an hour of original footage with the cast of the films just for it. The offerings need each other to be successful: a big-ticket "Matrix" sequel will draw attention to the video game, while a popular Matrix video game will make people want to see the "The Matrix Reloaded," due out in May, and "The Matrix Revolutions," set for a November release. "Entertainment is not about storytelling anymore, it's about building universes where people can express themselves," Bruno Bonnell, the chief executive of Infogrames, which will publish the game this spring, told Reuters at the launch party. The game is a big bet for Infogrames. It spent $47 million to acquire developer Shiny Entertainment while the project was in progress. The company thinks "Enter the Matrix" could be its best seller ever, with the potential to sell 3 million units or more and account for up to 20 percent of the company's revenue for the year. "Enter the Matrix," which is being released for all major console platforms and the PC, is intended to be a crucial companion to the upcoming films. Jada Pinkett Smith, the actress who stars in "Matrix Reloaded," also features prominently in the game. "I just think it's great intermixing those mediums," she said at the opening party. BIG BUSINESS, BIG SPENDING In 2002, sales of video game hardware and software rang in at $10.3 billion, even as revenue from hardware actually declined. That figure topped Hollywood's domestic box office, which was around $9.4 billion. Some of the biggest video games of 2002 were also based on or tied to movies, including Activision Inc.'s "Spider-Man" and Electronic Arts Inc.'s "Harry Potter," "James Bond" and "Lord of the Rings" titles. Electronic Arts, the No. 1 video game publisher, said last week it will build a major hub in Los Angeles and hire 300 people -- creative talent with movie studio backgrounds -- over the next two years. But for all the success of games based on movies of late there have been notable flops. Activision, which had a hit with "Spider-Man," saw a game based on the Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise hit "Minority Report" fall flat last holiday season, in part, some have said, because the developers lacked the right to use Cruise's likeness. 'HOLY GRAIL' OF CONVERGENCE "The way that (Shiny Entertainment President) Dave (Perry) worked with the Wachowskis, Warner and the producers is unprecedented and I think it's an indicator of where things are going and where they should be going," said Keith Boesky, an agent at Hollywood talent agency International Creative Management. Boesky, who once served as president of British publisher Eidos Plc, joined ICM in the fall with a mandate to help bring Hollywood and the game industry together. Things between the game business and Hollywood never used to be this cozy. Before the mid-1990s, movie-based games had little to do with the movies themselves beyond a shared title, an arrangement that did not begin to loosen until the mid-1990s, as the studios realized the profit potential. Celebrities are also getting in on the act. Vin Diesel, the Hollywood action-star-of-the-moment, has reportedly set up his own video game studio. Cobi Jones, the U.S. soccer star, now hosts a video game show on the specialty cable channel G4. And the next film based on the "Tomb Raider" games is due out this summer. Despite the increasingly close ties between the two industries, even some backers concede that the technology is still not far enough along for games to inspire the same range and depth of emotions for an audience as film. "I think we're five to 10 years away from complete acceptance," Shiny's Perry said. "The Holy Grail is that you burst into tears at some point."
From: Extra TV (The Detail is here) 'The Matrix'
It's the movie that revolutionized moviemaking "The Matrix" and it's back, with a vengeance. They’re returning with two back-to-back sequels, "Reloaded" and "Revolutions," and a video game to boot, starring a newcomer to the "Matrix" bag of tricks, Jada Pinkett Smith. She says, "It's like a dream come true for me. I'm a true video game freak." Tuesday night, Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Laurence Fishburne, along with Jada and hubby Will Smith, donned their "Matrix" black and celebrated the kick-off of the Atari video game. Keanu told "Extra" that he won't be playing his own game. He says, "I'm an old school cat. I play pinball." While Keanu is pretty low key about the whole "Matrix" experience, his co-stars tell "Extra" it was intense and they have the war wounds to prove it. Carrie-Anne says, "I broke my leg. It's brutal, tragic, but worth it." You'll see the fruits of their labor when "Matrix Reloaded" and the video game both premiere in May.
From: USA Today (The Detail is here) 'Matrix' stars get to talk — and play — a good game
By Kelly Carter, USA TODAY Jada Pinkett Smith kicks some serious butt in the new video game Enter the Matrix, based on the hit sci-fi movie franchise. A very 'Matrix'-like scene from the video game 'Enter the Matrix.' Infogrames Her moves impressed her 4-year-old son, Jaden, and her husband, Will Smith, as they played the game Tuesday night at a party on the Warner Bros. lot. The event marked the debut of the game, which goes on sale May 15. That's the day The Matrix sequel, The Matrix Reloaded, hits theaters. Pinkett Smith, who wasn't in the original Matrix, co-stars in both Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, in theaters in November. She plays Niobe, a fleet commander and one of the good guys. Pinkett Smith is the best-known actress to star in a video game, and she's a pretty good player, too. "What's great is that even if you're not a game player, you can still play this game and do a lot of cool moves," she said. "You can make the characters move slow like they did in the movie." Enter the Matrix includes more than an hour of Reloaded footage shot exclusively for the game and using actors, sets and crewmembers from the sequel. Players get to be either Niobe or Ghost (Anthony Wong). Matrix star Keanu Reeves says he doesn't mind that the game doesn't feature him. "I had enough to do in the films," he said. Co-stars Carrie Anne-Moss and Laurence Fishburne also attended the party. Fishburne brought his new wife, Gina Torres, who is also in the movie sequels. Tobey Maguire, his hair dyed red for Seabiscuit, said he had no plans to play the game at the party: "I'm going to wait until I get the game." Nona Gaye, who replaced the late Aaliyah in the movie, wanted to play, but so did nearly everyone else. "I'm trying to get a spot. I've been waiting in line about half an hour." The game, the first inspired by the Matrix movies, is based on a 244-page script written by Matrix trilogy creators Larry and Andy Wachowski. Pinkett Smith had her body scanned with lasers to create her video game character; she and Moss also did special motion-capture sessions. "The game and the film are on parallel timelines. There are actually moments where the story and the film will intersect," says Dave Perry, president of Shiny Development, which is making the game. It will be playable on PCs and Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube. Before entering the party, guests watched The Final Flight of the Osiris, a nine-minute film that sets up the next two Matrix movies and opens theatrically on March 21 with supernatural thriller Dreamcatcher. Contributing: Mike Snider
From: Game pro (The Detail is here) A Small Peek At Enter The Matrix
05-FEB-03 Very large game projects, in the eyes of publishers, deserve very big launch events預nd so it was last night, when Infogrames and Shiny Entertainment held a party to give the games media, entertainment world, and a whole wagonload of celebrities their first look at Enter The Matrix, a high-budget action game due to hit stores just in time for The Matrix Reloaded's theatrical debut in May. Although Enter The Matrix takes place in the same world as the upcoming movies, it's something of a side story to the films遥ou don't directly control Keanu and crew, but you'll be working towards the same goals, so to speak. The two heroes here are Niobe and Ghost, two members of the same rebel group that Morpheus, Trinity and Neo are involved with, and you'll get to control both as they drive across the cityscape and beat the crap out of Sentinels and other minions. Infogrames and Shiny had all four versions of Enter The Matrix猶C, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube用layable at the show. Four different sections of the game were available for play: two fighting sequences and two driving bits. The fighting scenes both took place in an area called "The Chateau," a large mansion home to, as it turns out, a legion of vampires. Although Infogrames didn't talk about the story behind this scene, Niobe and Ghost have infiltrated this house from two separate areas葉he Great Hall and the Attic預nd have to fight their way towards some unspecified target inside, whipping the crap out of mounds of undead scum in the process. The style of the fighting sequences is less straight fighting and more Devil May Cry-style kicking ass and looking cool while you're doing it. The four face buttons are used to punch, kick, jump, and block, and two more shoulder buttons let you use weapons and "focus" (Matrix-style), which unlocks bullet-time and more cool moves and attacks. While engaging enemies, you can press the control pad in any direction to concentrate your fury on one enemy or another揺elpful when you're dealing with hordes of opponents at once. Mysterious black vehicles getting you down? Then focus a little and have Ghost fire a couple rounds off the side of your car. You'll thank him in the morning. The driving bits work much the same way as they would in Driver or Grand Theft Auto遥ou're here, your destination's there, and there's an all-knowing arrow at the top of the screen to show the way. Police cars try to damage you demolition-derby style, but they're easily dealt with by having Ghost pop out of a window in third-person view and blast away with a machine gun. Another level has you driving a hoverpod around a vaguely Descent-like environment, fending off Sentinels that try to latch on to your craft. The best part about the Enter The Matrix demo scenes預nd, mind you, this isn't something that shows very well in the screenshots謡as the fighting control and animation. All the fights you get into play out exactly as they would in the Matrix movie遥ou can punch out enemies in the air to send 'em flying across the room, or leap off the wall and jump-kick them to oblivion. Although the need for a little more graphical flash was definitely still felt, everything animated really well (save for a few weird bits that could use some smoothing out), and movie fans will be completely convinced that what they are playing is not some lame quickie license. (Out of the four versions, the PC looked the best, the PS2 looked the plainest, and the GameCube and Xbox ports both looked about the same葉he GC port with sharper colors, and the Xbox one with better textures. This will likely change in the next few months, though, as Shiny polishes up all four versions.) What's more important to Matrix fans, though用erhaps more important than the gameplay itself擁sn't how much time Shiny's spent on the graphics, but instead how intertwined the game is with the Wachowski brothers' Matrix saga. The directors filmed a full hour of new footage for this game耀hooting whenever they had time left over while on location for Reloaded預nd they'll be interspersed as cutscenes as you wend your way through the story. A lot of what you see will depend on how you play the game, too容ntire scenes (including a fight with Trinity) can be missed if you fail to complete this or that task during the fighting or driving scenes. As Shiny's David Perry very modestly put it at the event, "We've been working on this two years non-stop with the Wachowski brothers, and we're going to change the face of the game industry." While we've still got a while before the final playable's out (the demo kiosks didn't show any of the original cutscenes, either), Perry's work doesn't appear to be in vain. If The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers showed that movie licenses don't necessarily have to be crap, then Enter The Matrix could prove once and for all that they can be incredible if they try. Stay tuned to GamePro.com for more screenshots later day, and try paying us a visit later this week for a full interview with the folks behind the game.
From: Entertainment Weekly (The Detail is here) Star Powered
The ''Matrix'' star steps out -- plus, lingerie fashion, and more. EW.com brings you the latest photos of celebrities who are making news
From: ET Online (The Detail is here) Hollywood Enters 'The Matrix'Hollywood Enters 'The Matrix'
 February 05, 2003 'The Matrix Reloaded''s KEANU REEVES, LAURENCE FISHBURNE, CARRIE-ANNE MOSS and JADA PINKETT joined a slew of other celebrity 'Matrix' fans on the Warner Bros. backlot Tuesday night to celebrate the series' first graphic-intense video game, "Enter The Matrix." TOBEY MAGUIRE, Jada's proud hubbie WILL SMITH and MARILYN MANSON among others were treated to the world premiere of 'Final Flight of the Osiris,' one of several visionary short films from the upcoming 'Animatrix' DVD release which serves as a prelude to 'The Matrix Reloaded' and directly impacts "Enter The Matrix." "LARRY and ANDY WACHOWSKI liked the look of what we developed with 'Final Fantasy' and really thought it would be cool to do an animé piece in that style," 'Flight' director ANDY JONES told ET. "They gave us a really good script, a lot of action, and I knew it would be a blast to do." 'The Animatrix' DVD will hit stores June 3, 2003, but audiences can get a look at 'Final Flight of the Osiris' when it debuts in theaters this March 21 with 'Dreamcatcher.' Set for release in May on Playstation 2, Xbox, Gamecube and PCs in May to coincide with the debut of "Reloaded," "Enter the Matrix" promises to make up for the lack of groundbreaking 'Matrix' video games when the original film was released in 1999. "It's really the first time anyone's told a story in multiple mediums," explains producer JOEL SILVER. "If you just see 'The Matrix Reloaded' by itself, you'll love the movie, but there are all these other avenues of content and story. The video game incredibly interconnects with all that has happened so far in the movie, and you have scenes that the Wachowski brothers wrote and directed for the video game that are not in the movie, but connect." "I read the game script and it was all this action, flippin' out the car windows, and I was like, how they gonna shoot all this? They gotta shoot 2, 3, and this video game script," says Jada, adding, "I think it'll be pretty cool playing myself -- I'm looking forward to that!" Avid video gamers themselves, the 'Matrix' directors wanted to create something different to coincide with the release of their highly anticipated sequels. Rather than placing their 'Revolutions' script in some video game company's hands to translate the plot into a game, the brothers decided to create a whole new story that could stand on its own and remain worthy of the demands of hardcore 'Matrix' fans. Instead of completely following the story arc of the films, "Enter the Matrix" has its own plot and storyline written exclusively by the Wachowskis that manages to parallel the action of the films and takes the stories further. The brothers even shot unique motion-capture footage with the film's principle actors for the game and also wrote special dialogue! Tonight on ET, catch all the highlights of this exciting 'Matrix' event!
From: USA today (The Detail is here) A multitude of 'Matrix' on the way
Mike Snider USA TODAY Get ready to re-enter The Matrix. A massive multimedia campaign begins today on the Net with the release of a new animated short film set in The Matrix universe. Three additional shorts will be posted free on the Web over the next three months at www.thematrix.com. With a pair of Matrix sequels headed to theaters this year, the movie's makers will maximize their marketing opportunities with two Matrix DVDs -- a compilation of nine animated shorts (including the four on the Net) called The Animatrix, and a revamped version of the original hit film -- plus a highly anticipated video game tied closely to the movies, all due by summer. The game will be previewed Wednesday at a Hollywood party at Warner Bros. Studios. New cast member Jada Pinkett-Smith (news) stars in the game, which is scripted by the Wachowskis and incorporates film footage shot especially for it. All fit into the larger Matrix concept devised by writer-directors Andy and Larry Wachowski (news). The animations provide the back story that ''really bridges'' the films, says Paul Hemstreet of Warner Home Video. Such complex story development and promotion across various media is ''something that really hasn't been done before,'' he says. Your first chance to jack into The Matrix world arrives today with the free download of The Second Renaissance: Part One, a nine-minute widescreen short. The segment is directed by Mahiro Maeda, who directed the Japanese animated series Blue Submarine No. 6. Among other noted anim辿 filmmakers involved are Koji Morimoto (Akira) and Peter Chung (creator of Aeon Flux). The shorts, developed at studios in Japan, Korea and the USA over three years, are close to the Wachowskis' hearts, because anim辿 inspired The Matrix's style and look. ''This is a chance to really go wide in introducing anim辿 to the American audience,'' Hemstreet says. The Matrix's attack timetable: * March 21. Another Animatrix episode, The Final Flight of the Osiris, a nine-minute film written by the Wachowski brothers and animated by Andy Jones (Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within), appears in theaters with the Warner film Dreamcatcher. * April 29. The Matrix Special Edition two-disc, $28 DVD arrives, including all of the original extras from previous Matrix and Matrix Revisited DVDs, plus ''Preloaded,'' a new behind-the-scenes preview of The Matrix Reloaded. * May 15. The Matrix Reloaded, which reunites Keanu Reeves (news), Carrie-Anne Moss (news), Laurence Fishburne (news) and Hugo Weaving (news), arrives in theaters. Enter the Matrix, the video game, hits stores. * June 3. The Animatrix DVD is released. Reeves and Moss provide voices for two shorts. Among the bonus features is a history of anim辿. * June 3. * Nov. 7. The Matrix Revolutions arrives in theaters.
From: Screen Daily Stories (The Detail is here) Warner Bros puts classics division on the fast track
Mike Goodridge in Los Angeles 04 February 2003 04:00 Warner Bros has confirmed that it has put its plans for a specialized film unit back on the fast track and is now actively searching for an executive to run it. Warner has been the only major studio without a classics division for some time and has been toying with the idea for about two years now. But in The Los Angeles Times yesterday, Warner Bros president and chief operating officer Alan Horn said that the perception of the studio was as a producer of franchise and event pictures not of so-called prestige movies. "Let's just say with my tickets to the Golden Globes this year, they sent me binoculars," he joked, adding that it was when he read and passed on Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven because the studio was not positioned to release a film like it that he started to feel uneasy. Far From Heaven was produced by Killer Films and executive produced by Warner-based producer John Wells who has a partnership with Killer. Horn has been restructuring Warner Bros Pictures in the wake of the departure of long-time chief Lorenzo di Bonaventura in Sept 2002. di Bonaventura had championed the formation of a classics division at the studio and was in advanced negotiations with Sundance Film Festival director Geoffrey Gilmore to run it in late 2000. Russell Schwartz, the former head of Gramercy Pictures and now marketing chief at New Line Cinema, was in the frame to co-head the unit before he segued to New Line. But that configuration was never finalized, although di Bonaventura did sign a co-production agreement with the UKﾕs FilmFour which yielded the disappointing Charlotte Gray starring Cate Blanchett. In the wake of Di Bonaventura's departure, Jeff Robinov assumed the role of president, domestic production, and, now that he is ensconsed alongside Steve Papazian who is president of physical production, Horn is turning his attention fast to specialized films. Currently being determined is the structure of the unit and how it will work alongside the existing studio infrastructure ﾐ whether it will share marketing and distribution with Warner Bros Pictures or operate autonomously and how many films to produce a year. In addition to the obvious benefits of producing arthouse films like attracting talent, discovering new film-makers and winning awards, Warner, like every other studio, is highly conscious of the ageing baby boomer audience, some 40% of which is now over the age of 40. In addition, Warner has been dramatically expanding its international production activities which have already yielded local hits such as It Can't Be All Our Fault (Ma Che Colpa Abbiamo Noi) in Italy and Le Boulet in France. The studio recently committed to its first Chinese-language picture Turn Left, Turn Right, to be written and directed by one of Hong Kong's most successful filmmaking teams - Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai - and is backing Jean-Pierre Jeunet's follow-up to Amelie - A Very Long Engagement in France. If these activities, which are overseen by Warner Bros executive vice president, international, Richard Fox deliver films which could warrant a US release, a classics division would be the perfect place. The Warner initiative comes during a season which has seen Disney's Miramax enjoy a breakout hit with Chicago, MGM's United Artists score $20m success with Bowling For Columbine, and Universal's new Focus Features division flourish with Far From Heaven and The Pianist. Paramount Pictures' Paramount Classics arm bought multiple territory rights to The United States Of Leland at the Sundance Film Festival in January, while Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Classics - the oldest studio team of all - is pitching for Pedro Almodovar's Talk To Her to score Oscar nominations next Tuesday. Warner meanwhile has focused on its powerhouse blockbuster lineup in 2003 which includes The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions and Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines (domestic only).
From: Sci Fi Wire (The Detail is here) Ellis Previews Matrix Chase
David Ellis, who helped coordinate the massive freeway chase in the upcoming sequel film The Matrix Reloaded, told SCI FI Wire that he and directors Larry and Andy Wachowski mixed on-set special effects with computer graphics to achieve the eye-popping sequence. Moviegoers got a glimpse of the chase in the movie's Super Bowl TV commercial, in which an agent appears to hop onto the hood of a speeding car, smash it and flip it over. "We would do the car chase, and then when [the agent] is jumping from car to car, we would [first] actually implode the car," Ellis said in an interview. The filmmaker would then shoot an actor jumping against a green-screen background. A computer would then composite the two shots together, making it seem as if the actor were jumping onto the actual vehicle. "That is how the front of the car crumples when [the agent] lands on it," Ellis said. The effects team would also catapult cars over the freeway, to make them seem as if they were being propelled by the agent's impact. "When he'd hit a car, we'd flip it over with a cannon, and then we would [composite] him in with that," Ellis said. The Matrix Reloaded opens May 15.
From: Los Angeles Times (The Detail is here) 'Matrix' has designs on dominating the box office
By RENE LYNCH HOLLYWOOD ・Eye-popping special effects? Check. Computer-generated humans?Check. A storyline that aims to appease the cultish fans of The Matrix, whohave been waiting four years to find out the fate of humanity? Double-check. Few sequels have been greeted with as much anti-cipation ・and as many highexpectations ・as the final installments of The Matrix trilogy: The MatrixReloaded, which opens in May, followed by The Matrix Revolutions inNovember. The first movie sparked a revolution in moviemaking, delivering amind-bending look at the future and stunning visuals. Its greatest strength,however, came from an emotionally gripping plot. That's a tough act to follow. But producer Joel Silver insists Reloaded and Revolutions aren't simplysequels offering contrived variations on the same theme. From the start,writers-directors-brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski envisioned a tale thatunfolds in three parts like a superheroes comic book sprung to life. TheMatrix served as the introduction to this world in which reality is turnedinside out. ''The story continues to be everything. It's the driving force,'' Silversaid in his office at Warner Bros., the studio releasing the films. For Matrix newbies, the trilogy is set in a dark, dreary future run bymachines that enslave humans in a dreamlike state to extract the energyproduced by their bodies. An alienated computer hacker, Neo, played by KeanuReeves, is rescued from this captivity after an all-knowing oracle anointshim ''The One'' ・as in the one who unknowingly possesses the superhumanstrength needed to save humanity. At first, Neo is filled with self-doubt. Eventually, he comes to believe inhimself. Although some critics found fault with the film's plot and structure, themovie became a hit even among those who generally avoid sci-fi flicks. TheMatrix, which cost about $65 million to make, earned more than $458 millionin theaters worldwide. Twenty-five million videos (VHS and DVDs) were sold.It also won four Academy Awards (editing, sound-effects editing, visualeffects and sound). The plots of Reloaded and Revolutions have been closely held secrets buttake moviegoers into Zion ・the world's last remaining haven for humans ・and an epic showdown between Neo and the forces of evil, Silver said. Several characters will be back to help Neo, including his love interest,Trinity, played by Carrie-Anne Moss, and Morpheus, the rebel leader playedby Laurence Fishburne, as they try to save the world. New arrivals includeNiobe (Jada Pinkett-Smith), who is Morpheus' former lover and, likeMorpheus, is captain of a rebel ship. Princeton scholar Cornel West has arole in both movies as a Zion elder. Like the first movie, the sequels continue to draw on a variety of sources,from Japanese anime to Eastern philosophy as well as kung-fu films and theBible, the kinds of concepts Matrix fans have relished dissecting anddiscussing. ''All the ideas and concepts are there,'' Silver promised,''only better.'' The same goes for the computer-generated images and special effects inReloaded and Revolutions, said John Gaeta, senior visual-effects supervisor. ''This will be the most sophisticated depiction of humans ever that are notreal, they are computer-generated,'' Gaeta said. That remains to be seen. But a few snippets of footage show astonishinglyrealistic images of Neo flying through the air and hint at the array ofvillains that Neo must combat to free humanity from increasinglysophisticated machine masters. Neo's nemesis, Agent Smith, is back, played by Hugo Weaving. In the firstmovie, he possesses the ability to transport himself across virtual time andspace as he attempts to hunt down and kill Neo. By Reloaded, Agent Smith'smutating powers have endowed him with the ability to replicate himself. Inone of Reloaded's climactic scenes, Neo finds himself battling more than 100Agent Smiths. ''We wanted a chance to explore an event that was not possible tochoreograph,'' Gaeta said. The result, he said, is a sequence in whichWeaving's and Reeves' characters are digitally rendered and brought to life・with moviegoers probably unable to tell the difference. Or so thefilmmakers hope. There will also be plenty of special effects, including the virtual land ofZion and the world of the machines, fantastic creatures who do battle, andacts of superhuman strength, Gaeta said.
From: Box Office MOJO (The Detail is here) 'Matrix' Wins Marketing Super Bowl
by Brandon Gray HOLLYWOOD (Box Office Mojo) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 48-21 routing of the Oakland Raiders wasn't the only decisive victory on Super Sunday. The big game served as the opening salvo in the battle of the 2003 tentpole pictures, and the highly anticipated Matrix sequels may have emerged the winner over the likes of The Hulk and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. The studios often use the Super Bowl to lure potential moviegoers with the first glimpse of the big movies of the year, and they pay a sizable chunk of the movies' marketing costs to do it. This year alone, each 30-second spot cost just over $2 million -- the highest rates yet. It may have been worth it as the game drew 88.6 million, the sixth most watched ever. The following is Box Office Mojo's scorecard of how the movie ads fared, listed in the order they aired in Hollywood. Maybe because most movies advertised were either sequels or based on other franchises, the studios played it safe this year using the tried-and-true structure of a brief mysterious intro leading up to the introduction of the highly recognizable character followed by a bunch of rapid-fire action shots. [Snipped for Matrix]The Matrix Reloaded / Revolutions (Warner Bros.) - May 15 / November 7 From the get-go, this spot places the viewer right back into the world of the Matrix with a voiceover by Laurence Fishburne about the war between the humans and the computers. From there, it hits all the notes fans of the first movie have been craving -- a new riff on the famous bullet-time fight sequence, plenty of Carrie Anne-Moss, a multiplying Agent Smith -- not to mention the Warner Bros. logo going Matrix digital. Plus it hints at even greater dazzling eye candy. The end shot of Keanu flying like Superman was perhaps the one misstep. All in all, it was almost as exciting as our first glimpse at the first Matrix -- quite a feat given that the novelty has waned. Reloaded is expected to bow at over 3,700 theaters -- the widest opening release ever -- and will follow Attack of the Clones' Thursday release pattern established on the same weekend last year. Clones grabbed $110,169,231 in its first four days, a number not out of Reloaded's reach despite its R rating. Grade: A-
From: Guardian(UK) (The Detail is here) John Sutherland
Sorry, Saddam, but you're just another part of Hollywood's publicity machine for the new Matrix films Monday February 3, 2003 There is a libel currently going around that the American campus is quiescent. Torpid even. Untrue. I have rarely detected such excitement in the student body. Not the war, of course, but the imminent release of Matrix II and Matrix III. Bliss to be alive in 2003, but to be young is very heaven. Many movies fill theatres. The Matrix was something else. It filled that hole in the young American psyche where religion used to be. The storyline is well-worn SF. Machines take over the world and become body-snatchers - storing human bodies in underground vats to generate energy for their own nefarious ends. The human race is a worldwide battery farm serving a mechanoid Enron. The twist is that homo sapiens doesn't know what's happening. The machines have created a virtual earth - the Matrix. In it, human beings think they are living their normal lives. Paranoid, or what? A saviour named Neo (played by Keanu Reeves) is plucked from the vat by a small band of guerrillas. Neo is the "One" (he used to be the goofy one in the Bill and Ted films, if you recall). He learns his destiny from a lady Oracle and is trained by a macho master, Morpheus (Larry Fishburne), under whose instruction he becomes nimbler in martial arts than Jackie Chan, faster with a gun than Clint Eastwood, and holier than the Dalai Lama. He re-enters the matrix and kicks mechanoid butt. The first film in the series got the kind of lucky break money can't buy. The warrior Neo is kitted out in ankle-length black trench coat, shades, and shotgun. The film was released three weeks before the Columbine massacre and worldwide fame for trench-coat mafiosi, Harris and Klebold - the Keanu lookalikes. Wonderful PR. What made the movie addictive were the special effects; particularly the 360-degree flicker gyrations in the fight scenes. Zero-G kung fu, cognoscenti call it. Technicians call it the "bullet time effect" (if you're curious, go to www.howstuffworks.com). Newsweek proclaims 2003 "The Year of the Matrix" (tough luck, Saddam). The first ads for MII, costing £30.4m, went out last week during the Superbowl. "Animatrix" teasers will be released on the internet in February, just as the smart bombs begin to fall on Baghdad - perfect synchrony. Beats Columbine. A franchise industry of Star Trek proportions is being generated. For the truly cultish there is William Irwin's The Matrix and Philosophy, a book in which a squad of big brains think deeply about what it all means (heavy, heavy). Down the cultural food chain come the novelisations and Samsung cellphones, tricked out to look just like Neo's handy gizmo. Video games are scheduled for simultaneous release. And for the kiddy winks there will be ludicrously overpriced action figures. MII (The Matrix Reloaded) will hit the screen in early May and MIII (The Matrix Revolutions) in November. The Wachowski brothers (who directed and wrote the screenplay) are not making George Lucas's mistake of having the audience grow old between instalments. Security has been tight. It is known that the effects got so expensive that Keanu kicked in £23m to prevent Warner Brothers from cutting the budget. Spoiler sites claim to have got the storyline. In MII, the machines invade humanity's last redoubt, Zion (a name which should ensure good Israeli bookings). They use "Virii" (viruses?) - nasty little critters which degrade "reality" in amazing ways. There's great excitement about a freeway chase against the flow of traffic which, as Fishburne says, follows the rabbit down the hole as far as it can go. The last of the trilogy, Keanu solemnly divulges, will feature Neo crucified and resurrected (Jesus!). But who cares about story. It's the F/X, stupid. And, of course, the dollars. You want free religion? Try the Salvation Army.
From: Trentonian.com (The Detail is here) After the game, the commercials live on
BY JEFF EDELSTEIN Well, the Super Bowl is over, but the commercials will be here for months. That’s their nature. And with some estimates - as much as 15 percent - of yesterday’s viewers tuning in solely for the ads, it makes sense to take a second look at the spots, before we take a second look at the spots. Anyone else feel like a Budweiser right now? - Ozzy Osbourne has a nightmare for Pepsi. Aren’t you glad you weren’t the director on set for this shoot? Hard to imagine Ozzy remembering his lines. Commercial, by the way, wasn’t even funny. GRADE D - "This referee is a jackass." Line of night, funniest ad as well. Budweiser Clydesdales playing football, zebra checking out the play on instant reply, pure genius. GRADE A - The Hulk. Trailer for the movie. Uh-oh. The Hulk looked like the computer-generated angry green thing he is. Does not bode well. Commercial didn’t impress, movie will be a bomb, you read it here first. GRADE F - The Matrix Reloaded and the Matrix Revolutions: Wow. Tell me you’re not salivating over those movies. GRADE A+ - The Fed Ex spot with the Tom Hanks lookalike doing the Cast Away bit with the package. Good, but saw the punch line coming a mile away - the GPS thingee and all the other survival gear. GRADE B - Michael Jordan vs. Michael Jordan vs. Michael Jordan for Gatorade. Fun ad, kicking it old school. Jordan has probably drunk more Gatorade than anyone on the planet. GRADE B- - Willie Nelson makes fun of his past tax troubles and states, quite convincingly, that, "My face is burning." Not even sure who the commercial was for. Poor Willie. GRADE B+ - Another Budweiser ad, this one with a guy in an upside-down clown suit drinking a beer through his rear. And then asking for a hot dog. Gross, and not really funny. Who misses the Bud Bowl? GRADE C
From: dvd.ign.com (The Detail is here) The Matrix: Special Edition will be released on 29th April
The Matrix: Special Edition Disc One:
Disc Two:
DVD ROM:
From: Internet Wire (The Detail is here) Super Bowl Advertisers Score Points Well Past Game Day, comScore Reports
TV Commercials Drive Spikes to Super Bowl Advertiser Sites Within MinutesA number of television advertisers’ Web sites posted dramatic increases in the number of visitors within minutes of the actual television advertisement airing* (television advertisement data source: CMR, a Taylor Nelson Sofres company):
Movie and Car Advertiser Sites Continue to Spike on Monday After Super BowlWhile a great many people visited Super Bowl advertiser Web sites during the game, the highest traffic levels to these sites occurred the Monday after, when Web users at home and work resumed their regular weekday surfing routines. This would appear to indicate that “word of mouth advertising” played a key role in increasing interest in the advertised products and services – and that the Internet played a key role in satisfying consumers’ needs. Among advertiser sites with at least 10,000 visitors on Monday, the winners this year were car sites and rich-media Hollywood movie sites (many of which had already experienced game-time spikes as mentioned above). The top gaining movie sites versus the prior Monday were: Thehulk.com, up 1,963 percent; Terminator3.com, up 665 percent; and Whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com, up 466 percent. The top gaining car sites were: Cadillac.com, up 1,096 percent; and Chrysler.com, up 93 percent. Although Reebok’s new “Terry Tate, Office Linebacker” advertisement did not prominently feature its sponsoring brand, consumers clearly responded by rallying to Reebok.com to learn more about the character. On Super Bowl Monday, the site posted an increase in visitors of 308 percent versus the previous Monday. “Considering the enormous cost of advertising on the Super Bowl television broadcast, it is especially gratifying to see the immediate and extended consumer response to brands that have made the investment,” said Stephen Kim, chief research officer of comScore Media Metrix, a division of comScore Networks. “The gains we’ve seen demonstrate how the Internet can complement traditional media spending and continue to cultivate relationships between brands and consumers.”
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