matrix is a $us4 billion franchise

Any talk from skeptics last week about the box office potency of The Matrix has now been officially blown away.

The Matrix Reloaded blew apart expectations, grossing $US135.8 million over its first four days of release and $US93.3 million over the Friday-to-Sunday portion of the weekend. There are almost too many records broken to list them all, but here are a few: biggest opening day and biggest Thursday ($42.5 million), biggest four-day gross ($135.8 million vs. Spider-Man's $125.9 million), and of course, the biggest gross for an R-rated film (almost doubling Hannibal's open of $58 million).

The Matrix Reloaded cost WB and VRL about $150 million, half of the $300 million associated with the making of the two films. The film should make its cost back by the end of day on Monday and should crack $200 million by Friday. Where revenues go with the two films, the video game and the DVDs is anyone's guess, but my early call is that it's a $US3.5 billion to $US4 billion gross. Think that number is too high? Remember that the Harry Potter series has made $1.9 billion worldwide so far from only two films.

In Australia, the film is estimated to have made $11 million in its first weekend. That is also huge for a non-holiday weekend!

Looks like VRL's bet on the Matrix will pay off big time. If this doesn't move the share-price then nothing will.