Warner Brothers has added Wednesday screenings in over 2,000 movie theaters as the studio pulls out all the stops in its efforts to set new box office records with the R-Rated, two-hour and seventeen minute The Matrix Reloaded. On Thursday the new Matrix film will flash across 8,400 screens, and with audience polling at unheard of levels, some industry observers feel the film has a chance to top Spider-Man's four-day total of $125.8 million. Working against the new Matrix film are its long running time, its 'R' rating and the possibility that X2 might still have some juice left. The Matrix Reloaded is almost certain to shatter Hannibal's $58 million opening weekend record for 'R' rated films. Also in jeopardy (eventually) is Beverly Hill Cop's $235 million total, the highest domestic gross for an 'R' rated film.
The Matrix Reloaded had better do well at the box office since Warners and its partners spent a reported $300 million on the two Matrix sequels (the second opens in November) and plan to lay out an additional $100 million in promotion. The Matrix Reloaded's final 17-minute battle sequence cost some $40 million alone. The Wachowski brothers spent $2.5 million to build a six-lane freeway loop and then destroyed some $2 million worth of cars.
While there will be even more Matrix merchandise available for the holiday season and the opening of the final Matrix film, the new Matrix film offers retailers quite a bit of tie-in merchandise including action figures from McFarlane toys (see 'McFarlane Toy's Matrix Line'), superbly sculpted busts from Dark Horse, and a new book, Exploring the Matrix in which 17 science fiction authors and digital artists examine the Matrix phenomenon. Of course there are also numerous posters as well as several other books examining the philosophical and religious elements of the trilogy. And the special Matrix DVD, the Animatrix DVD due for release in a few weeks, and sometime between now and November the Matrix Reloaded DVD (see 'It's All Part of the Matrix') will also give retailers the opportunity to capitalize on the phenomenon.
