An IMAX version of The Matrix Revolutions will be released simultaneously in theaters with the 35mm version on November 5, 2003.

As far as the DMR process, Bonnick reveals that it is now more automated than before. "We further enhanced the automated element of the remastering. It saves time. We let the computer do that and then we validate what it's done. It's much more reliable as far as a system predictor."

Indeed, while Apollo 13 took about 13 weeks to convert and Attack of the Clones took about half that, Reloaded took only three weeks. Work has not yet begun on Revolutions, which is still in post-production. In fact, IMAX was only originally scheduled to convert the third film, but after a very successful test, both Warner Bros. and the filmmakers decided to give Reloaded the IMAX treatment as well.

The Matrix Reloaded is an ideal movie to convert to IMAX, with its soaring images and innovative action scenes. Here, the sentinels plan their attack on humans.

"I'm sorry to say there were no challenges with the Matrix. The DMR conversion is very open-ended. We send data in and it converts it properly. It can handle anything, and the latest CGI developments are quite adaptable. One of the things we won't do is change the creative content. You can lower sharpness to compensate for [a lot of] close-ups, and we've developed statistical predictor tools for a system that makes these types of decisions. There's always an odd shot that requires some subjective evaluation. The artifacts associated with Attack of the Clones were of a different nature because it was all digital. Adjoining pixels were slightly off color to one another. DMR brought them back in line. One film had a flash going off, so we wrote an algorithm in four hours to correct it. On every film we become faster and faster to get it through the first pass."

Bill Desowitz is the editor of VFXWorld.com.