Matrix

Matrix THE MOVIE, which has been wowing audiences elsewhere overseas after hitting U.S. screens last month, follows on the success of the original “Matrix,” released in 1999, a mind-warping tale of software-created cities run by ruthless machines. According to box-office returns for overseas last weekend, the movie earned more than $42 million from 5.5 million admissions at 9,400 screens in 62 countries, raising its cumulative gross to $300.6 million. This time around, the hero Neo (Reeves) leads his trusted band of warriors inside the matrix to prevent the destruction of the human stronghold of Zion, built deep inside the earth. But Egypt’s censorship board felt the movie could subject viewers to “crises.” In a statement, the board declared that “Matrix Reloaded” touches on subjects considered sacrosanct to the religiously conservative Islamic nation. “It explicitly handles the issue of existence and creation which are related to the three divine religions, which we all respect and believe in,” it said. Other problems, according to the statement, include that the movie “tackles the matrix, movie, movies, human, said, kassem, creator, banned, violence, released, million, issue, creation, censors, been, although, according, voice, viewers, touches, statement, screens, overseas, original, moviegoers, last, kind, inside, however, god, form, felt, egyptian, egypt, considered