The Wachowski's SPEED RACER will close out the Tribeca Film Festival on May 3, according to VARIETY.
Comedy BABY MAMA (with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler) will open the fest on April 23.
"The Tribeca Film Festival is a defining event in New York’s entertainment culture, so it is an honor to have SPEED RACER chosen as the festival's closing night screening," producer Joel Silver told VARIETY.
Before the film comes out, IDW Publishing will release SPEED RACER: CHRONICLES OF THE RACER trade paperback, which expands the decades-old mythos of the iconic SPEED RACER in a new direction.
"There hasn't been a SPEED RACER in comics in at least five years, and we're taking it in a direction that it has never gone before," says Chris Ryall, IDW publisher and editor-in-chief. "These stories expand the entire SPEED RACER legend. We look at the 'Speed Racers' of the past -- incarnations throughout history, from the Roman times to the medieval era, and even the swashbuckling high seas."
At the same time, fans will get their fix of the SPEED RACER cast from the present, including favorites like Pops, Chim-Chim and Trixie. The series, Ryall says, will keep the best of the past by holding onto its spirit of adventure and remaining true to the feel of the old show, but with a more modern buff on its classic chassis.
"The series will be firmly rooted in the present, rather than in the 1960s," says Ryall. "For instance, Speed's mom will probably have a job outside of the kitchen."
Handling creative duties is screenwriter Arie Kaplan and artist Robby Musso, a fan-favorite from his work on one of IDW's recent adapted-from-animation projects, THE TRANSFORMERS. Artist and IDW founder Alex Garner provides a special painted cover for the collection.
