As we predicted, EW’s CapeTown Film Festival, running at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood from April 30 through May 5, will kick off with a complimentary advance screening of Marvel’s “Iron Man 3.” The film, starring Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall, hits theaters in wide release on May 3. Full lineup for the fest below.
A discussion with Marvel Studios president and “Iron Man 3” producer Kevin Feige will follow the special screening. The film is directed by Shane Black.
The CapeTown fest will run 14 screenings in six days for some 8,500 fans. Filmmakers Terry Gilliam and Richard Donner and author Neil Gaiman will join the fest with screenings of their classics “Twelve Monkeys,” “The Goonies” and “Coraline,” respectively (Laika chief Travis Knight will fill in for filmmaker Henry Selick).
EW will record all the Q&As by Capetown programmer Geoff Boucher and his EW colleagues Jeff Jensen and Anthony Breznican to run as video on EW.com and audio on the new EW SiriusXM channel. We’ll see how much coverage winds up in the magazine itself. (I was amazed at how much the magazine’s SXSW coverage favored music over one teeny paragraph about film award-winners.) EW is giving all profits from ticket sales and concessions to benefit nonprofit American Cinematheque.
Meanwhile the L.A. Times is opting to continue
Boucher’s one-time Hero Complex Blog and Film Festival, which will also
roll out May 10-12. Described as an “annual celebration of classic films from sci-fi, fantasy, horror, superhero and pop culture genres,” each screening is followed by a Q&A with the cast and creators. Past speakers include: Leonard Nimoy, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Damon Lindelof, Robert Downey, Jr., Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, Malcolm McDowell, Zack Snyder, and Nathan Fillion. At the end of the festival they will have a “Fan’s Choice” event where they
screen three “X-Files” episodes, selected by the fans.
Among the stars of Boucher’s new Capetown program are returning Nimoy (with 2009 “Star Trek”) and Wright (with “Shaun of the Dead”) as well as “Escape from New York”‘s Snake Plissken, Kurt Russell, and his director John Carpenter (with “The Thing”). Friday night brings a screening of Carpenter’s 1981 “Escape from New York,” which is about to be remade. Boucher will interview Russell afterwards; Carpenter and Russell went on to collaborate on “The Thing” (1982), “Big Trouble in Little China” (1986), and “Escape from L.A.” (1996). That night CapeTown will also screen a second feature with a free big-screen preview of the season three premiere of
“Falling Skies,” the TNT sci-fi series that stars Noah Wyle and Moon
Bloodgood, after the Q & A. (TNT is a fest sponsor.)
CapeTown also features a full day of screenings of George Lucas’s classic “Return of the Jedi,” and we can assume some speakers will be involved as well, presumably at the invitation-only 10 AM first screening.
The full lineup for the CapeTown Fest is as follows:
EW CapeTown Film Festival Schedule of Events – Egyptian
Theatre, Los AngelesTwitter:
@SidGraumanFacebook:
http://www.facebook.com/egyptiantheatreTumblr:
http://amcinematheque.tumblr.com/Tuesday, April 30
8:00pm Iron Man 3 complimentary fan appreciation screening
Special guest: Kevin Feige
Wednesday, May 1
7:30pm
Shaun of the Dead
Special guest: Edgar WrightThursday, May 2
7:30pm The
Thing
Special guest: John CarpenterFriday, May 3
7pm
Escape from New York
Special guest: Kurt Russell
Bonus! Advance Screening of TNT’s Falling Skies Season 3 Premiere (show
premieres June 9th)
Special guest: Noah WyleSaturday, May 4
“May the 4th Be With You” Celebration
10am Return of the Jedi – INVITATION ONLY
2pm Return of the Jedi
6pm Return of the Jedi
10pm
Return of the JediSunday, May 5
10am
Despicable Me1pm
CoralineSpecial guests: Neil Gaiman and Travis
Knight4pm
The Goonies
Special guest: Richard Donner8pm
Twelve MonkeysSpecial guest: Terry Gilliam
The evening with Terry Gilliam is co-presented by the
British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles.Monday, May 6
7:30pm Star
Trek (2009)
Special guest: Leonard Nimoy
EARLIER: Since EW gained former L.A. Times Hero Complex star Geoff Boucher, his new CapeTown blog — covering all things superhero, genre and fanboy/girl — has been a huge success, generating 2.5 million page views in its first month, which is close to the number of monthly readers the five-year-old LAT blog gets.
EW continues to push the Capetown blog and brand with the launch of the CapeTown Film Festival; EW will also put Boucher and Capetown front and center in Hall H at July’s Comic-Con convention.
A highlight of the six-day festival and a major programming coup is a screening of “Return of the Jedi” on “Star Wars” day, Saturday, May 4. The screening celebrates the film’s 30th anniversary and is one of the few times since the “Star Wars” rereleases in 1997 that moviegoers can see the classic on the big screen. Major “Star Wars” players are expected to participate. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, Time Warner is hanging onto its magazines– as the Meredith deal fell apart– as it spins them into a separate unit. EW isn’t on the chopping block — yet.
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