In its continuing effort to embrace more commercial event films (with the cooperation of the CAA talent agency), IMAX will release Warner Bros.' THE MATRIX RELOADED in select theaters on Friday, June 6, 2003, and, for the first time, in various international venues through early July (including the U.K., Germany, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and Japan). The timing couldn't be better, as the second mind-bending film in the Wachowski Brothers' trilogy recently set a new international box office record in its opening weekend (more than $113M).
RELOADED marks the third film to be Imaxed in the company's 15 perf/70mm format via proprietary DMR (Digital Re-mastering) software. This degrains and redistributes grain along with sharpening and color correcting the image for presentation on screens as tall as eight stories high, accompanied by uncompressed and more dynamic sound.
Unlike APOLLO 13 and STAR WARS: EPISODE IIATTACK OF THE CLONES, RELOADED will not only been shown in its original widescreen aspect ratio, at the filmmakers' request, but also in its complete 138-minute running time, thanks to modifications in the IMAX platter system.
Meanwhile, the last film in the MATRIX trilogy, REVOLUTIONS, will simultaneously open November 5 in IMAX and conventional theatersa first for IMAX.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
