Pixar s upcoming 3D animation Up will open this year s Cannes film festival on May 13, organizers of the world s premier cinema showcase said Thursday.
Up, an adventure set in the wilds of South America due for release end May, is the latest offering by multiple US Oscar nominee Pete Docter, writer and director of Monsters, Inc, director of Toy Story and writer of Wall-E, and Bob Peterson, writer of Finding Nemo and Ratatouille.
The film s world premiere at Cannes will make cinematic history, becoming the first-ever animated feature and first 3D movie to open the festival.
We are happy to have 3D open Cannes, as it is one of cinema s upcoming adventures, said the festival s Thierry Fremaux.
We are very proud, he told AFP, to welcome Pixar studios, it s brilliant world, its talented directors and producers.
Produced by John Lasseter, co-founder with Steve Jobs of Pixar studios bought up by Disney in 2006, the movie is set for release in the US on May 29 and in other territories through the year from that date.
It was not known whether it would be selected by the festival as one of the score of movies lined up to compete for the prestigious Palme d Or for best film. In 1947, Dumbo was part of the official selection, followed by The Savage Planet in 1973 and Fritz the Cat the following year.
The official line-up for the Palme will be announced April 23.
Up sees 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen tying thousands of balloons to his home to fulfill a dream of adventure in South America. But after lifting off, he finds a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior has become a stowaway on the trip.
The Cannes festival winds up on May 24 when the jury, headed for this year s 62nd edition by French actress Isabelle Huppert, hands out the Palme d Or. AFP
