Tens of thousands of moviegoers in China watched the premier of "The Matrix: Revolutions "on Wednesday night, along with Matrix fans in 80 countries and regions all over the world.

With an unprecedented distribution system in place, fans of the third and final chapter in the sci-fi trilogy starring Keanu Reeves are able to see the film at exactly the same time around the world.

In Beijing, the movie made its debut at 12 cinemas in the evening at 10:00 pm. Tickets were sold as high as 80 Yuan, or nearly 10 US dollars.

This is also the first time that a major Hollywood blockbuster premiers on the Chinese mainland at the same time as that of western countries. Audience attending Wednesday's premier in China can only watch the movie with Chinese subtitles. The version with Chinese dubbing will be released a week later.

The production of "Matrix Revolutions", financed jointly by Warner Bro. and Village Roadshow, is estimated to have cost 200 million dollars, making it the costliest to make in the history of cinema.
 
(People's Daily   November 6, 2003)