The Matrix Reloaded Update
Last Updated: May 16, 2003 at 5:45PM EDT (Correction made on Spider-Man facts)
by Gitesh Pandya
Warner Bros. has set a new opening day box office record with the mega-hyped sci-fi sequel The Matrix Reloaded which on Thursday grossed an astounding $42,508,303, according to final studio figures, from 3,603 theaters. The remarkable tally included grosses from Wednesday night previews from 2,750 theaters, or about three-fourths of the total playdates. With theaters playing the blockbuster film on multiple screens, the total print count stands at a record 8,517.
That was enough to beat the previous record set last year by Spider-Man which grossed $39.4M on its opening Friday. Matrix is rated R and began its previews at 10pm while Spider-Man was rated PG-13 with no night-before previews. Warner Bros. is not separating the Wednesday night preview gross from the total. The tally also ranked as the second largest single-day gross in history after the webslinger's Saturday gross of $43.6M from its debut frame.
On a per-theater basis, The Matrix Reloaded averaged $11,798 or $4,991 per print. That edged Spider-Man's opening day per-theater average of $10,901, but was a bit shy of the webslinger's print average of $5,254 from 7,500 prints. The table below lists the top five opening day grosses in box office history. Grosses for The Matrix Reloaded, X2, and Episode II include night-before previews.
| # | Title | Date | Gross | Day | Est. Prints | Print Avg | Theaters | Thtr. Avg. |
| 1 | The Matrix Reloaded | May 15, 2003 | $ 42,508,303 | THU | 8,517 | $ 4,991 | 3,603 | $ 11,798 |
| 2 | Spider-Man | May 3, 2002 | 39,406,872 | FRI | 7,500 | 5,254 | 3,615 | 10,901 |
| 3 | Harry Potter | Nov 16, 2001 | 32,333,203 | FRI | 8,100 | 3,992 | 3,672 | 8,805 |
| 4 | X2: X-Men United | May 2, 2003 | 31,247,979 | FRI | 8,000 | 3,906 | 3,741 | 8,353 |
| 5 | Star Wars Episode II | May 16, 2002 | 30,141,417 | THU | 6,000 | 5,024 | 3,161 | 9,535 |
The incredible $42.5M tally also outgunned the $30.1M opening day of Star Wars Episode II which, like Reloaded, opened on Thursday of this week last year with night-before previews. Episode II's first-day take represented 27.4% of the full $110.1M that the Jedi film collected over its Thursday-to-Sunday debut frame. Reloaded's first day is likely to end up being a larger share of the overall long weekend period since there is arguably more anticipation and it is more available to the consumer thanks to the earlier previews and the higher print count - Episode II had about 6,000 prints in the marketplace. Given the mammoth opening day, The Matrix Reloaded could find itself with roughly $130-140M by Sunday night.
With such a fast start, The Matrix Reloaded stands an excellent chance of becoming only the second film in history to shatter the $100M barrier in just three days, after Spidey. Technically, it would be a little more than three days because of the earlier previews, but the century mark should still be surpassed on Saturday night. With Reloaded's hardcore fan base hitting theaters before Friday, Spider-Man's opening weekend record of $114.8M is not likely to be broken.
Be sure to check back all weekend for updated totals for the historic opening of The Matrix Reloaded.