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ANALISTS: AOL CAN RAISE FORECAST 2003
Source: <Yahoo>
Thanks to: <TLFC>

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The box office success of "Matrix Reloaded" and strong advertising sales by its cable networks may enable AOL Time Warner Inc. to raise its full-year earnings forecast, according to Wall Street analysts.

"We believe the success of 'Matrix Reloaded' will allow the company to not only beat consensus estimates for June, but it will let it raise its guidance for 2003," said Kaufman Bros. analyst Mark May, who has a "buy" rating on AOL.

On Wednesday, JP Morgan analyst Spencer Wang, who rates the media company "overweight," raised his 2003 and 2004 forecasts for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), citing larger cost savings at AOL's Internet division, American Online, and better-than-expected performance in cable networks and film.

Still, some analysts say the company, burned by setting expectations too high following AOL's 2001 acquisition of Time Warner, may leave the earnings bar low so that it can soar over it and perhaps regain credibility among investors.

"They are a doing a solid job; they don't have to stretch in any way and risk having a disappointment," said John Tinker, an analyst at Blaylock & Partners who rates the stock "buy." "They have expectations at the right level so they can perhaps surprise on the upside."

AOL executives have characterized 2003 as a "reset" year as the company tries to turn around America Online, pare its debt, restore growth and regain investor confidence after a 65 percent drop in its stock since the 2001 merger.

But Wall Street analysts said most of the company's businesses -- from its film division and cable network group, which includes CNN and HBO, to its Time Warner Cable system -- are outperforming expectations.

Fulcrum Global Partners analyst Richard Greenfield, who has a "buy" rating on AOL, said some of the concerns facing the company, such as the strength of the ad market and the performance of the film group, have lifted.

"You don't have to be concerned about film; it's chugging along on all fronts and cable continues to capture share in the ad market," Greenfield said.

Earlier this month, Chief Financial Officer Wayne Pace told investors the company may reassess its 2003 outlook amid recent positive developments. AOL is set to report second-quarter earnings in late July.

AOL has said it expects percentage revenue growth in the mid-single digits this year, up from $41 billion in 2002. It has forecast EBITDA percentage growth in the low- to mid-single digits from $8.7 billion last year.


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IMAX BOX-OFFICE REPORT
Source: <Imax.com>

Warner Bros. Pictures and IMAX Corporation today announced that The Matrix Reloaded: The IMAX Experience enjoyed an unprecedented box office performance in its third weekend at IMAX. theatres. After a strong first two weeks of the run, the film grossed $903,241 in North America over the four-day period from Friday, June 20 through Monday, June 23, 2003, the highest weekend gross since the film's IMAX release. The increase of more than 37% over the same four-day period of the previous week is a strong indicator that the IMAX version of the film will continue to draw fans for repeat viewings throughout the summer.

With The Matrix Reloaded: The IMAX Experience having expanded to 50 screens this past weekend, it earned an impressive $18,064 per screen average over the specified four-day period, up from $16,870 per screen for the same period of the previous week. Theatres owned and operated by IMAX where the film opened this past weekend reported an average weekend gross in excess of $28,000 per screen.

Click <here> to read more or visit <Imax.com>.


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PRE-VISUALIZING THE MATRIX
Source: <VFX Pro>
Thanks to: <Countingdown>

Pixel Liberation Front (PLF) provided pre-production and on-set pre-visualization services for "The Matrix Reloaded," the second installment in the Wachowski Brothers' film trilogy from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures. The 3D animatics produced by PLF provided visual representations of the action and mapped out details about everything from camera placement to stunt car speeds.

PLF was involved in the project over the course of two years, working from the Eon production offices and on the set, to pre-visualize sequences or update these digital blueprints as the filmmakers' vision, or direction, demanded. "Very detailed comic book-quality storyboards had been created for virtually every scene of the movie, and we needed to take these to the next level in planning many of the camera moves and scenarios we had envisioned," said senior visual effects supervisor John Gaeta. Pre-visualized materials were also used on set to communicate the requirements, parameters or desired flow of the action to other collaborators, including stunt performers, technical coordinators, camera operators and set personnel.

The process developed by PLF involved creating accurate, to-scale digital models of all of the elements in a film sequence. This included the set or location, the characters, key props and set dressing, as well as virtual cameras, which allowed the action, timing and camera position of a scene to be refined with immediately viewable results. PLF also incorporated other elements relevant to the physical production, such as positions of various vehicles, necessary vehicle paths to make the action believable and achievable and even the required size for the camera lens. The sum total of this information, conveyed in frame-by-frame visual form, allowed for optimal coordination and creative realization of such scenes in the film as the Freeway Chase, which seamlessly combines unbelievable stunt action with unprecedented CG and virtual cinematography.

PLF also completed extensive pre-visualization for the third film in the Matrix trilogy, "The Matrix Revolutions," which will be released in November 2003 by Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures. PLF credits for "The Matrix Reloaded" include: Colin Green, pre-visualization supervisor; Laurent Lavigne and Kyle Robinson, pre-visualization lead artists; Derek Fisher, Raul Moreno, Robb Nunn, Ben Procter, Rpin Suwwanath, Alex Vegh and PeiPei Yuan, pre-visualization artists; and Duncan Burbridge and Sean Cushing, pre-visualization coordinators.


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MATRIX UNLOADED WEBMASTER INTERVIEW
Source: <Matrix Unloaded>

The webmaster of Matrixunloaded.com participated in an interview that was broadcasted by Fox News Chicago. Congratulations Sal. I envy you :-). Anyway, they've got the video up on the site:

Finally...video of our news story:

As some of you know, Fox News in Chicago did an interest story about "The Matrix Reloaded", the "Enter the Matrix" game, and Matrix fans in Chicago.
Included was an interview with Usagi (aka Sal, the usually humble webmaster of Matrix Unloaded), and they talked a bit about this site (Matrixunloaded.com) too. A triumph for Matrix-website-making geeks everywhere.

Click <here> to visit Matrixunloaded and watch the interview.




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IN DEPTH CINEMATOGRAPHER ARTICLE
Source: <Matrix Unloaded>

American Cinematographer, Issue: Vol. 84 No. 6, June 2003

Articles: "Rebooting a Sci-Fi Spectacular" (32-45), about cinematographer Bill Pope, who was director of photography for "The Matrix" and "The Matrix Reloaded". In additon to the usual photos from "Reloaded", Pope goes into deteails on how he shot "Reloaded", specifying things such as camera apeture, film speeds, lighting and color gels.

"Simulated Cinema" (46-57), about special effects supervisor John Gaeta and the effects in "The Matrix Reloaded". The article has several behind-the-scenes visual effects photos.

Two good articles, both focused on the technological aspects (and not just the usual fluff "Reloaded" articles). Definately worth picking up.


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RELOADED BANNED IN EGYPT
Source: <RTE Interactive>
Thanks to: <Countingdown>

'The Matrix Reloaded' has been banned in Egypt on religious grounds.

Egyptian censors say the film's storyline, about the search for the creator and control of the human race, may cause 'crises'.
The country's censorship committee, made up of 15 critics, academics, writers and psychologists, watched the sequel to 'The Matrix' on Monday.

In a statement the committee said: "Despite the high technology and fabulous effects of the movie, it explicitly handles the issue of existence and creation, which are related to the three divine religions, which we all respect and believe in."

The movie "tackles the issue of the creator and his creations, searching the origin of creation and the issue of compulsion and free will".
According to the committee, "Such religious issues, raised in previous times, caused crises."

Commenting on the violence in 'The Matrix Reloaded', the statement said: "screening the movie may cause troubles and harm social peace."


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KEANU KEEPS HIS MONEY
Sources: <MatrixFans.net>, <Reeves Drive>

Keanu Is Keeping His Money, Thanks Very Much
by Roger Friedman

Matrix star Keanu Reeves is a generous guy, but reports of his wild generosity are not true.
Yesterday the British tabloids, in a fit of creative mania, decided that Reeves had given $82 million to the crew who worked on The Matrix films.

"I have enough money to last for centuries," Reeves proclaimed, and it was reprinted everywhere (also on Matrixfansite.com, Oops.. - Code 808). Where do they get this stuff from?

Indeed, one of the people cited as receiving a check for $2.8 million was Kym Barrett, the costume designer for The Matrix series. She's the one who made Neo's famous long trench coat. So I called Barrett up and asked her how she felt being a millionaire.

"A what?" she asked. Sadly, she has not gotten a dime in the mail from Reeves. "I mean, he's very nice. He plays with my kids. We love working with him, but no, no checks," she laughed.

Was there anyone who'd gotten this money as described in breathless reports? "No one I know of," she said.

Barrett, by the way, wouldn't mind if Warner Bros., or Joel Silver wanted to merchandise those long coats. She's ready to become a fashion designer.

As for Keanu doling out the big bucks, here's the real story: Two years ago he put some of his upfront money back into the production budget to ensure the creative staff -- costumes, special effects etc. -- could continue working on the trilogy. This was back when the first Matrix had not yet hit pay dirt. Since then, believe me, the movies have been such a success that everyone's gotten what they needed.

But Keanu has not written any personal checks to anyone. Sorry.


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HOLLYWOOD AGAIN MAKING SHORT MOVIES
Source: <Yahoo>
Thanks to: <TLFC>

By ANTHONY BREZNICAN, AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES - Hollywood is trying on some shorts for the summer.

The brief movies that disappeared from theaters decades ago have started to make comebacks in new ways — often as marketing tools to hype feature-length films such as "2 Fast 2 Furious" and "The Matrix Reloaded," or to help sell DVDs of movies.

One hook is that many of these minifilms fill in important plot points necessary to understanding elements of the bigger pictures.

For instance, how does Paul Walker (news)'s rogue police officer get from Los Angeles in "The Fast and the Furious" to Miami Beach in the sequel "2 Fast 2 Furious?" And where did he get his new Nissan Skyline racer? Only the short film on the new "tricked out" DVD of the original film has the answer.

"It's a little glimpse of what he was going to see in Miami and two of the cars from the first race of the sequel," said the short's director, Philip Atwell, whose other credits include the music videos for Eminem (news - web sites)'s "Stan" and "Lose Yourself." "So when the kids see the film and come back and see this, it's just more of a connecting-of-the-dots."

Atwell took a music video approach to the six-minute short — depicting Walker in street races, cross-country escapes, a romantic encounter and a pursuit by state troopers under the pulse of brooding dance beats without dialogue.

The series of nine shorts linked to "The Matrix Reloaded" also foreshadow events in the movie and expand the story beyond the limits of the planned trilogy. The Japanese-style anime cartoons — titled collectively "The Animatrix" — debuted June 3 on DVD after being originally distributed through theaters and the Internet.

"Final Flight of the Osiris" depicts what erotic foreplay is like in the digital world of the Matrix and shows how humans discover an army of machines burrowing toward their stronghold of Zion. The computer-animated segment appeared in theaters in March before screenings of the horror film "Dreamcatcher."

"We thought the fans should be able to watch this and see it on the big screen," said Joel Silver, who produced the anime shorts along with the feature "Reloaded." "We really felt if we could get this out and up before the movie opened it would give people a chance to see it and understand it and kind of lead them right into 'Reloaded.'"

Among other "Animatrix" shorts, "The Second Renaissance" details the origins of the war between humans and computers, while "Kid's Story" explains the background of the mysterious boy who shadows Keanu Reeves (news)' character in "Reloaded."

Not every recent short release is aimed at promoting a blockbuster.

Disney-Pixar's computer-animated fish feature "Finding Nemo" is preceded by the 1989 computer-generated short "Knick Knack," about a snowglobe-imprisoned snowman who wants to break free. With no trinket-themed feature to hype, the short is mainly a bonus for moviegoers while allowing Pixar to showcase one of its little-seen experimental flicks of yesteryear.

Read more at the source link.


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ANIMATRIX SOUNDTRACK CLIPS
Source: <Machinehead.com>
Thanks to: <MatrixFans.net>

In a lot of countries the Animatrix DVD is already available. On the soundtrack of the Animatrix are lots of great tracks. Download some clips below:

Please visit <Machine Head>

Junkie XL - Red Pill - 1 minute 54 seconds
<Realplayer - 2,9 Mb>
<Windows media - 8,4 Mb>

The Real - Tech Itch - 52 seconds
<Realplayer - 2,6 Mb>
<Windows media - 7,5 Mb>

Martineau Waves - Meatbeat Manifesto - 39 seconds
<Realplayer - 2,5 Mb>
<Windows media - 7,4 Mb>

Beyond RMX - 5 minutes and 35 seconds
<Realplayer - 1,8 Mb>
<Windows media - 5,2 Mb>




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IMMORTAL BRAIN BUILDING MACHINES
Source: <Geek.com>
Thanks to: <Countingdown>

This spring's "The Matrix Reloaded" has gotten many people thinking about artificial realities and computer simulations. Robyn Peterson of ExtremeTech is going so far as to argue that a simulation as seen in "The Matrix" films might be possible. His controversial and questionable arguments relate to genetic engineering, which he surmises might might allow a Matrix-like scenario to come to pass. He questions whether "If we let Genetic Programming loose--truly loose with significant computing power--will we be taking baby steps towards building our own Matrix?" Although it is a huge step to go from genetic engineering to artificially programmed realities, there are some researchers doing groundbreaking work on similar subjects.

Hugo Degaris has done amazing work on "brain-building machines," which he believes will lead to a war between humans and "Artilects"--intelligent computers--within this century. Dr. de Garis believes that:

When one compares the comparable information handling capacity (in bit flips per second equivalent) of the human brain [compared to that of AIs], the estimated answer is about ten thousand trillion bit flips a second (a 1 with 16 zeros), which is a thousand trillion trillion trillion times smaller. These artilects could potentially be truly god like, immortal, have virtually unlimited memory capacities, and vast humanly incomprehensible intelligence levels. I foresee humanity splitting into two major ideological, bitterly opposed groups over the "species dominance" issue, i.e. should humanity build artilects or not.

Ray Kurzweil, although he trashed The Matrix Reloaded in his review, takes a more sanguine view of the future. He believes that:

Virtual reality will become a profoundly transforming technology by 2030. By then, nanobots (robots the size of human blood cells or smaller, built with key features at the multi-nanometer—billionth of a meter—scale) will provide fully immersive, totally convincing virtual reality in the following way. The nanobots take up positions in close physical proximity to every interneuronal connection coming from all of our senses (e.g., eyes, ears, skin). We already have the technology for electronic devices to communicate with neurons in both directions that requires no direct physical contact with the neurons.
It appears that some of our most seminal thinkers are convinced that virtual reality, nanotechnology, and AI could make programmed, communal, virtual realities possible.

Read the user comments on this article <here>.


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RELOAD IN IMAX
Source: <Imax.com>

It was mentioned on this site before, but since June has arrived I thought some extra attention couldn't do any harm:

The Matrix Reloaded, the blockbuster film of the year from the Wachowski Brothers', comes to the IMAX screen this June. The film, from Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures and producer Joel Silver, has been digitally re-mastered for the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience®, using the revolutionary and proprietary IMAX® DMR? technology. The Matrix Reloaded: The IMAX Experience will explode onto screens that are up to eight stories tall, with 12,000 watts of pure digital surround sound - providing audiences with an entirely new and immersive way to experience The Matrix Reloaded.

Click on the image for a complete list of IMAX theatres playing The Matrix Reloaded: The IMAX Experience.




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THE MATRIX ONLINE: 2004
Source: <The Matrix Online>

Warner Brothers has launched the official site for the massively multiplayer online game The Matrix Online. The first screenshots and trailer are available:

In 2004, the Matrix will become a reality, as gamers everywhere will be able to log into The Matrix Online and continue the saga of the Matrix movie trilogy.

Players of the Matrix online will inhabit an enormous urban sprawl, which spreads for miles in all directions. There are subways, nightclubs, skyscrapers, and dark alleys that all seem normal on the surface, but beneath this urban exterior, a secret war is being waged for the survivial of humanity and machines alike. Here you and many operatives like yourself, will determine who shall inherite the earth

Gameplay highlights:

- Dozens of weapons and martial arts maneuvers that capture the "wire fu" Matrix experience.
- Plot lines by the creators of the Matrix.
- A full Rich World cityscape environment with traffic, lethal Agents, living neighborhoods and breathtaking skylines.
- Numerous different 'Matrix' abilities that players can swap out and exchange like trading cards.
- A robust mission system designed for maximum re-playability and depth.
- "Vogue style" avatars that are completely customizable.



For screenshots and wallpapers, visit the pictures section <here> and click on a The Matrix Online page.
For the first official trailer of the game, visit the projects section <here>.

Please visit the official site <TheMatrixOnline.com>.


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© 2003 Code 808