'X-Men' invade Cannes

'The Fountain', 'The Da Vinci Code' and 'X-Men: The Last Stand' will all play at the French festival.

Apr  5 2006

American features look set to dominate Cannes this year, with some of the summer's most eagerly anticipated blockbusters making their debuts at the French film festival.

As previously announced, Ron Howard's adaptation of 'The Da Vinci Code' will open proceedings on May 17, while today Variety claimed that comic book sequel 'X-Men: The Last Stand' and fantasy epic 'The Fountain' will also make their debuts at the sun-drenched fest.

The work of Oliver Stone will also feature heavily, with the controversial director being honoured as part of a 20th anniversary tribute to 'Platoon', and a 20 minute preview of his forthcoming 9/11 pic 'World Trade Center' also taking place.

Other US features likely to make a splash are Richard Linklater's 'Fast Food Nation', Sofia Coppola's 'Marie Antoinette', DreamWorks latest animated offering 'Over the Hedge' and the documentaries 'John Wayne/John Ford: The Filmmaker and the Legend' and 'Al Gore: An Inconvenient Truth'.

That's not to say Europe will be totally ignored however, with many directors hitting the Croisette with new pics, including Pedro Almodovar ('Volver'), Alejandro González Iñárritu' ('Babel'), Guillermo Del Toro ('Pan's Labyrinth'), Aki Kaurismäki ('Lights at the Edge of the City'), Nanni Moretti ('The Cayman') and our very own Ken Loach ('The Wind That Shakes the Barley').

Yet while there are still a whole raft of titles to be announced, this year's festival nevertheless looks like being the most mainstream Cannes in years.

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