SHARK TALE PREPS FOR VENICE PREMIERE
Copyright 2004 www.tombraiderchronicles.com

[ September 9th 2004 ]

The giant screen has been inflated and more than 5,000 chairs have been put in place as preparations are nearly completed for the world premiere of DreamWorks Animation's new computer-animated comedy Shark Tale on September 10. The film's stars Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie and Michael Imperioli will be among the estimated 5,000 people expected to attend the premiere, which sold out in a matter of hours.

The premiere is being held outdoors in the city's historic Piazza San Marco. The Piazza, which had never before been closed for a major movie premiere, has been transformed into an outdoor theatre for the event. The movie will be shown on the largest inflatable screen in the world, measuring more than six stories tall and over 3,900 square feet. Inflating the screen required approximately 20,000 cubic feet of air, and the screen is being stabilized with a ballast of more than 50 tons of water. The approximately 190 tons of equipment was brought to the site on barges, and barges are also holding the three generators that will provide the more than one million watts of electricity needed to power the event.

Opening nationwide on October 1, 2004, "Shark Tale" stars the voices of Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Renee Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, Jack Black, Martin Scorsese, Doug E. Doug, Ziggy Marley, Michael Imperioli, Vincent Pastore, Peter Falk and Katie Couric. The film was directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron and Rob Letterman from a screenplay by Michael J. Wilson and Rob Letterman. The producers are Bill Damaschke, Janet Healy and Allison Lyon Segan, with Jeffrey Katzenberg serving as executive producer. The Shark Tale Soundtrack, featuring such artists as Christina Aguilera, Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige, Will Smith, Justin Timberlake, Ziggy Marley, Sean Paul, JoJo, D12, Ludacris, India.Arie, and others, will be released on September 21 on DreamWorks/Geffen Records.