Here in Toronto, there was a very early opportunity to see the movie as it was shown on 10 September, 2005, as part of TIFF (Toronto International Film festival). The major cast members were all in attendance as well as Ang Lee but he had to leave midway through the festival to fly back to Venice to accept his Golden Lion award. ( A six minute video of an interview with Jack, Heath, Anne, Michelle, Ang and, I think, James Schamus can still be found on YouTube).
I'd not even heard of the movie then, so saw it first on its general release here on 6 January 2006. I was so transfixed by it, that I went back to see it twice more when it was still playing in local cinemas - something I'd never done with a movie before or, indeed, since. Maybe it would have slowly faded away after that but then the DVD came out and I discovered, amongst other things, this board and since then, I don't think there's been a day when I haven't been reading something or writing something to do with the movie or short story. I don't know how long this will go on but I hope for a good while yet.