Joss Whedon's 'The Avengers' will close Tribeca Film Festival

Joss Whedon’s ‘The Avengers’ will close Tribeca Film Festival

March 28, 2012 9:44 AM PT

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The Tribeca Film Festival is assembling a band of superheroes, announcing Wednesday that it will close its festival April 28 with Joss Whedon’s ‘The Avengers.’

The move marks a return to superhero territory for the New York film confab, which in past years has showcased studio tent poles such as ‘Spider-Man 3’ in addition to its lineup of independent films. The festival said it will use this year’s event as an opportunity to ‘celebrate everyday heroes from police agencies, fire departments, first responders and various branches of the U.S. military,’ who will be invited to the premiere.

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Samuel Jackson, ‘Avengers’ will open May 4. The Tribeca event will serve as its New York premiere; it is scheduled to premiere in Los Angeles on April 11.

PHOTOS: ‘The Avengers’

Disney is distributing the Marvel Studios film, which collects a range of superheroes from previous films as well as comic books and assembles them into a super-group of crimefighters. It co-stars Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson and Chris Hemsworth.

Tribeca, which will mark its 11th edition this year, kicks off on April 18 with the Jason Segel-Nicholas Stoller comedic collaboration ‘The Five-Year Engagement.’

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--Steven Zeitchik

http://twitter.com/ZeitchikLAT

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Steven Zeitchik

Steven Zeitchik is a former Los Angeles Times staff writer who covered film and the larger world of Hollywood for the paper from 2009 to 2017, exploring the personalities, issues, content and consequences of both the creative and business (and, increasingly, digital) aspects of our screen entertainment. He previously covered entertainment beats at Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, has contributed arts and culture pieces to the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the New York Times and has done journalistic tours of duty in Jerusalem and Berlin. While at The Times he has also reported stories in cities ranging from Cairo to Krakow, though Hollywood can still seem like the most exotic destination of all.