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Thread: How The Matrix Ruined Movies

  1. #1
    NEW YORK - The Matrix Reloaded generated $93.3 million at U.S. box offices over the weekend. That's not a record total, but it's close. The Matrix phenomenon hasn't quite ruined movies--but it's close on that score, too.

    The sequel to the 1999 science-fiction hit didn't quite match the $114.8 million three-day gross delivered by Spider-Man, a Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) release, even though it was shown on a record 8,517 screens across the U.S., all according to studio estimates. It did beat the $90.3 million total put up by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It broke the box-office gross record for the first four days (besting Spider-Man), for an R-rated releases (besting Hannibal), for sequels, for its star Keanu Reeves and for movies where the characters are mostly dressed in black (besting Men in Black II). It beat X2: X-Men United, released two weeks ago by Fox, a unit of News Corp. (nyse: NWS - news - people ). The movie is also believed to have broken the record--though this is unofficial--for the number of ways to slice box-office records.

    The Matrix Reloaded represents a trend where movies are opened on more and more screens, with more and more hype, where more of that hype is linked to product tie-ins, and where more releases are based on sequels, remakes or comic books. To see what's happening, it's only necessary to compare the The Matrix Reloaded to the original Matrix.

    The first movie was released by Warner Bothers, a unit of AOL Time Warner (nyse: AOL - news - people ), in 1999, written and directed by the then little-known Larry and Andy Wachowski. (They had made Bound, another noir thriller--but with lesbians--three years earlier.) It wasn't exactly a sleeper, but nine other movies took in more in their opening weekends that year, including Tarzan, The Mummy, and Pokemon: The First Movie, according to Boxofficemojo.com. But the movie had staying power and proved mightily popular as well as a cult favorite. It grossed $171.5 million in the U.S., the fifth-highest that year.

    The first Matrix movie itself was hailed for its inventiveness. Its plot melded cyberspace, fear of authority, state-of-the-art Hong Kong-style fight scenes and, of course, a leather-clad heroine. Roger Ebert, for instance, called it "visually dazzling cyberadventure, full of kinetic excitement." This time the special effects are, by most accounts, even more special, but the movie itself is much worse. David Edelstein, the movie critic for Slate, was a big fan of the original. But he calls Reloaded "as messy and flat-footed as its predecessor is nimble and shapely. It's an ugly, bloated, repetitive movie that builds to a punch line that should have come an hour earlier (at least)."

    Still, as Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) said in the first film, "The Matrix is everywhere; it's all around us." Reloaded opened with huge fanfare, primed by product tie-ins with Cadillac, a unit of General Motors (nyse: GM - news - people ), Heineken (otc: HINKY - news - people ), Samsung and Ducati (nyse: DMH - news - people ). The marketing budget is reportedly $50 million. Fans can buy the sunglasses. In another sign of the times, the film is showing on two screens at Angelika Film Centers in Houston and New York, venues normally devoted to low-budget and non-U.S. releases.

    Reloaded is not the first production to rely on over-the-top publicity, but it accelerates the trend where more and more of the major releases are based on comic books or old television shows or movies already made--whether sequels or remakes. In 1993, just one of the top ten grossing movies, The Fugitive, was based on an old television show. In 1998, there were two remakes among the top ten, Doctor Doolittle and Godzilla.

    Last year, the top ten included five sequels and one comic book.

    Hollywood, of course, has long been about giving the people what they want. If there wasn't a huge demand for The Matrix Reloaded, it wouldn't be in 8,500-plus screens. But even a short time ago, Hollywood was better at selling what was new. Now it is repackaging the old, and with no end in sight. The third Matrix is already slated for November.

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  2. Movies & TV   -   #2
    iamtheoneandonlyone's Avatar Andromeda Ascendant
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    Uhhhh... first of all movies will never be ruined. Second of all The Matrix is way better than other movies so don't complain. Third of all, The Matrix is a sequel so what do you expect. It's said that sequels aren't that good with an exception to Star Wars.

    It's the best out there now.

  3. Movies & TV   -   #3
    I am sure that you are the one but did ya c the Question mark right beside the Topic's Title. I didnt ad anything to this article so stfu and i posted this here because i was shocked that wtf is this guy saying

  4. Movies & TV   -   #4
    i dont see the question mark

  5. Movies & TV   -   #5
    they ruined home alone aswell

  6. Movies & TV   -   #6
    And what is exactly your point by posting this?

    It's an article written by some guy that obviously doesn't like sequels. It's his own opinion that sequels are killing the creativity in the movie-industry, which is not the truth, obviously. The whole movie-industry is, like any other industry on earth, about supply and demand. We demanded more of the Matrix and the industry supplied more of the Matrix. They earned millions of dollars by doing this. So "NO, the Matrix is not ruining the movies". If we didn't want to see any more of the matrix, the industry would not make any more of the matrix. So, I don't know what the writer of this article is bitching about and what the starter of this topic is so shocked about.

    Greetz, D!mensio_x.

  7. Movies & TV   -   #7
    AHHH STFU!!!!!

    im tired of people always complaing bout movies and music...this sucks that sucks!!! everything sucks to you guys!!!!! DONT FUCKING COMPLAING, I WANNA SEE YOU DO BETTER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  8. Movies & TV   -   #8
    Originally posted by TheFilePirater@9 November 2003 - 20:28
    AHHH STFU!!!!!

    im tired of people always complaing bout movies and music...this sucks that sucks!!! everything sucks to you guys!!!!! DONT FUCKING COMPLAING, I WANNA SEE YOU DO BETTER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    stop complaning about people complaning blah blah any matrix did suck most overated movie ever sick of all the talk about it there are a lot better movies out there with better actor like JOHN Q, BRAVEHEART , FULLMEATAL JACKET, BLACKHAWK DOWN , WE WHERE SOILDERS, MAD MAX, CASINO, LEAVING LAS VAGAS,I AM SAM ,SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, FORREST GUMP, HIGHLANDER.just to name a few my point being is matrix is low on acting high on specail effectsI honestly believe that they should have stopped after the original movie. It left you hanging and your mind running over millions of possibilities, but these last two flicks just left me feeling disappointed.

  9. Movies & TV   -   #9
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    Originally posted by TheFilePirater@9 November 2003 - 19:28
    AHHH STFU!!!!!

    im tired of people always complaing bout movies and music...this sucks that sucks!!! everything sucks to you guys!!!!! DONT FUCKING COMPLAING, I WANNA SEE YOU DO BETTER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    damn straight

  10. Movies & TV   -   #10
    I love movies dont complain about them!
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