Matrix to Have Record April Opening

Wednesday gross: $4,803,310

Thursday estimate: $4,775,000

Two day total: $9,578,001

The Matrix had an incredible opening day, harvesting $4.8 million from 2,704 screens. This blows away the spring Wednesday record previously held by Indecent Proposal, which opened to $2.9 million.

What's even more impressive is how it made almost the same amount on Thursday. This is uncharacteristic of the box office pattern of most sci-fi and action pictures, as a high percentage of their audience tends to see them opening night, causing an above average decline.

With strong word-of-mouth and repeat business, a weekend tally well north of $25 million now seems inevitable, easily surpassing the previous April record holder, last year's Lost in Space with $20.2 million. But can it beat the spring record set by Liar Liar's $31.4 million? We'll see.

Kudos to Warner Bros., who has had notoriously bad marketing as of late, for positioning this picture at just the right time to maximize its potential. The Matrix marks the end of a long action and sci-fi drought. It also beats Star Wars to the punch, which would have overshadowed it had it came out after May 19.

The trailer showcased the spectacular effects and stunts and capped it off with that cryptic and now oft repeated line, "Unfortunately, noone can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself." This, of course, is a variation on the same shroud-it-in-mystery formula that's worked so well for the likes of The Usual Suspects ("Who is Keyser Soze?") and, before that, the novel, Atlas Shrugged ("Who is John Galt?").