The Matrix Reloaded isn't just opening. It's opening. And opening. And opening.

The sequel to 1999's oft-imitated sci-fi hit, starring Keanu Reeves as, mercy, humankind's last, best hope against machinekind, bows Wednesday night in 2,750 theaters--a mere prelude to Thursday's full-scale invasion: 3,603 theaters, 8,517 prints, plenty of prospective popcorn munchers. (Still to come: A June 6 IMAX release.)

"People want to see it as soon as they can," says Brandon Gray of the box-office tracking site Box Office Mojo. "They're not going to let little things, like going to school, or going to work, get in the way."

Or getting sleep.

At Hollywood's premiere movie house, Mann's Grauman's Chinese, Wednesday's 10 p.m. screening was sold out, as was a 1:30 a.m. late-night showing, according to Moviefone.com.

But fear not, as Gray reminds, "It's playing everywhere, and every theater will have many screens."

Many showings, too. At Grauman's Chinese, Matrix Reloaded will be reloaded six times on Thursday, starting at 9 a.m. and running all the way up 1:40 a.m. (Sorry, the prime-time unspoolings, at 7:15 p.m. and 10:40 p.m., are already full up.)

All these screenings, all these prints (a record, besting 2002's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by two), all this anticipation, all point to one thing: Big box office.

The one-day record for a Thursday opening currently belongs to Star Wars: Episode II--Attack of the Clones, which summoned $30.1 million during a particularly productive 24 hours last May.

Expectations are for Matrix Reloaded to approach and/or surpass that mark, as well as the record Friday-Sunday $114.8 million snared by Spider-Man during that film's opening weekend, also last May.

"I've never really seen this much excitement over the opening of a film," says Paul Dergarabedian of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. "And believe me, I've seen a lot."

Specifically, in recent years, Dergarabedian has seen the build up for the revived Star Wars franchise, the Harry Potter movies and Spider-Man. According to him, the anticipation for Matrix Reloaded tops all those once hot tickets.

"We're kind of scratching our heads going, 'How high is high?'," Dergarabedian says.

Box Office Mojo's Gray predicts a $35 million Thursday, and an X2-esque Friday-Sunday. (X2: X-Men United excelled with $85.5 million during its opening weekend earlier this month.)

Neo's boffo box-office weapon? The experts say he and his cool-looking crew appeal to, well, just about everybody.

What's surprising about this projected demographic domination is that Matrix Reloaded is rated R, the scarlet letter that prevents mallrats under the age of 17 from buying tickets.

In 2002, not a single R-rated film was among the year's top 10 grossers. Indeed, not a single R-rated film was among the top 20. The standard-bearer for the supposed family-unfriendly genre was 8 Mile, which drove home with $114 million in 2002, the year's 21st-biggest take.

Dergarabedian says Matrix Reloaded's appeal, not to mention its theater count, is unprecedented for a flick aimed at grownups. When asked if the sci-fi trip has the potential for being the first-ever R-rated family film, Dergarabedian replied: "This may be [it]."

"If you're the parent of a teenager, there's going to be a lot of pressure on you to take [him or her] to the film," Dergarabedian says.

The standing three-day opening weekend record for an R-rated film is the $58 million eaten up by Hannibal in February 2001.

The first Matrix, also rated R, debuted with $27.8 million in April 1999, en route to taking in an overall $171.4 million, and earning the undying devotion of geekdom.

The new film, the middle installment of a trilogy that will be completed in November by The Matrix Revolutions, finds much of the original cast back for more man-versus-machine madness, courtesy writers-directors-siblings Andy and Larry Wachowski. Key returnees: Reeves; Carrie-Anne Moss, as his kick-ass girlfriend, Trinity; Laurence Fishburne, as his kick-ass mentor, Morpheus; Hugo Weaving as his needs-to-be-kicked-you-know-where nemesis, Agent Smith; and the late Gloria Foster as The Oracle.

Foster died in 2001 during the back-to-back production of Reloaded and Revolutions. While she had completed most of her work on the first sequel, she will not appear in the second. Misfortune also struck in August 2001, when R&B singer Aaliyah, slated to play a human, Zee, who hails from the human holdout of Zion, was killed in a plane crash. Nona Gaye was cast in her place.

Another new face: Jada Pinkett Smith, introduced in Reloaded as Niobe, another fighter for the human cause, but seeing most of her action in Revolutions.

While experts claim Matrix Reloaded is critic proof, for the sake of completeness, what exactly are the critics saying?

That it's pretty good, even if can't match the "whoa" factor that is seeing Keanu dodge bullets for the first time.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the movie-review site Rotten Tomatoes had compiled 72 reviews--78 percent of them positive.

A sampling:

In the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan shoots down Reloaded as "simply not as satisfying as the original...[g]ood intentions and great effects notwithstanding." Ignoring the precedent of Empire Strikes Back, Turan argues that Reloaded suffers from being the trilogy's second part, writing "middles are almost by definition less compelling and trickier to make involving." Newsweek's David Ansen, in a generally positive notice, calls the flick "a cliffhanger with no real ending. When the lights come up, think of it as the start of a six-month intermission [until Revolultions comes out]. For better and worse, Reloaded leaves you hungry for more." One proviso: Ansen warns Reloaded will be "utterly baffling" to anyone who hasn't seen The Matrix, if, as he points out, anyone like that exists. In Daily Variety, Todd McCarthy raves Reloaded is "superbly staged and eye-popping to watch," but frets that "there's nothing anyone can do about the fact that it's no longer quite as fresh or surprising as it was the first time around."

Hey, Morpheus only said Neo was the One. He never said he was perfect.

Get the skinny on the top flicks of the season in the E! News Live Summer Movie Guide, premiering May 24 at 6 p.m.