Motion Pictures
May 23, 2002
First Teaser Trailer For Warner Bros. Pictures’ “The Matrix Reloaded” And “The Matrix Revolutions” Scores 20 Million Page Views At TheMatrix.com
(May 23, 2002 – Burbank, CA) – Fans around the globe have converged upon TheMatrix.com to view the first teaser trailer for “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions,” the hotly anticipated sequels to Warner Bros. Pictures’ ground-breaking, Academy Award-winning action blockbuster “The Matrix.”
TheMatrix.com has received over 20 million page views since the teaser trailer was released, demonstrating unprecedented web traffic at a feature film website over a year in advance of the release of “The Matrix Reloaded,” the second installment in the trilogy that stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss and Hugo Weaving.
In the first 72 hours following its release on May 15, the trailer was downloaded over 2 million times, shattering records previously set by websites for “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” and “The Lord of the Rings.” (If these Matrix downloads were played back-to-back, the trailer would run continuously for over five years.) This translates into over 8,000 gigabytes of data being downloaded worldwide, an amount that would typically crush or freeze most web servers – but through the power and support of the AOL server which houses the site, fans were able to view the trailer and explore the world of TheMatrix.com to optimum effect.
“The teaser trailer clearly drove the initial traffic, but the jump in hits above and beyond the teaser is a testament to the fans’ massive sustained interest in the sequels,” producer Joel Silver noted. “TheMatrix.com is our direct connection to the fans, and it is our singular purpose to provide unique and continuous content to the online community.”
Based in Sydney, Australia – where “Reloaded” and “Revolutions” are simultaneously in production under the auspices of writer-directors Larry and Andy Wachowski – TheMatrix.com web team, overseen by Spencer Lamm, has developed a comprehensive site that features interviews; first-look photos; online comics; QUICKTIME virtual reality tours of sets used in the sequels; and previews of Matrix-related anime short films, which will begin to be released on the site in the fall, along with more mind-blowing content which is presently being kept under wraps.
“The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions” will be released worldwide in 2003 by Warner Bros. Pictures, an AOL Time Warner Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures. # # #