'Speed Racer' To Close Tribeca Film Festival

The uber-trendy Tribeca Film Festival will close this year's festivities with one of summer's most anticipated titles, the Wachowski Brothers' big screen adaptation of Speed Racer.

The Hollywood Reporter says that the film will buck the tradition of playing in uptown theaters and will instead debut downtown. Of course, I'm no New Yorker, but the last time I visited Tribeca, it wasn't anywhere near uptown and it's not like Manhattan has a paucity of theaters, so why the tradition of having the debuts uptown makes no sense to me at all.

In previous years, Tribeca has hosted Spider-Man 3 and Mission: Impossible 3. Several members of the Speed Racer cast reportedly appearing at the film's May 3rd screening, making it an even more valuable ticket.

Over its first few years in existence, Tribeca has already become probably the second most valuable week to ten days of movies in America, behind only Sundance. And even that's debatable.

The festival offers world cinema, over 200 films total, and more than 20 noncompetitive films of both the narrative and documentary variety. And Baby Mama, it should be noted. Another format that sets Tribeca apart from literally every other film festival in the world is its partnership with ESPN on a sports film festival as part of the main festivities.

Tribeca runs April 23rd - May 4th.