'Speed Racer' Zooms into Theaters May 9, 2008

Adaptation comes to theaters two weeks earlier

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Saturday, March 10th 2007 at 6:39 PM

Warner Bros. has officially announced Speed Racer for a May 9, 2008 release, which is two weeks earlier than its earlier scheduled release which would have had it opening one week following Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspiam. The live-action feature adaptation of the classic '60s animated cartoon will now open one week after Paramount's Iron Man and the week before Narnia.

Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, and Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures made the announcement saying, "We have been excited about Speed Racer since we first announced the project. We see it as a movie with broad-based, worldwide appeal–from adults to teens to families–making it the perfect film to lead off our exciting 2008 Summer slate. We want to give 'Speed Racer' the maximum playability throughout the season, so moving it up to the earliest possible date made the most sense."

Speed Racer is being written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, marking the brothers' first writing/directing collaboration since their groundbreaking Matrix movies. The film is being produced by Joel Silver under his Silver Pictures banner.

Based on the classic series created by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida, the big-screen Speed Racer will follow the adventures of the young race car driver Speed in his quest for glory in his thundering Mach 5.