Iron Man 2 : Avant-première mondiale à L.A. au lieu de Londres
Iron Man 2 grounded by ash cloud
The world premiere of Robert Downey Jr's new outing as the Marvel superhero, originally scheduled to take place in
London next Monday, has been relocated to Los Angeles.
With the help of his shiny red-and-gold suit, he's capable of pulling off superheroic feats of spectacular magnitude – but even Iron Man has been forced down to earth by ash wafting from the still erupting Icelandic volcano.
Producers of Iron Man 2 confirmed yesterday that the sequel's world premiere, which had been set to take place in the newly-opened Westfield Vue cinema in London next Monday, will now shift to LA due to continuing travel uncertainty. Cast members Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke and Samuel L Jackson, along with director Jon Favreau, will now be walking the red carpet in California instead, although a special screening is still set to unspool at Westfield on 26 May.
Elsewhere, teenage star Miley Cyrus and her boyfriend Liam Hemsworth will be unable to attend the UK premiere of their new film The Last Song in Leicester Square tonight. Demi Moore's latest flick The Joneses, due to premiere in London early next week, is also likely to be hit.
Iron Man 2's distribution in Europe, where it will be rolled out from 28 April, seems to have been unaffected. "Luckily, we had the copies delivered a week ago, just before the volcano erupted," an employee at German distributor Concorde told the Hollywood Reporter. "If they had been delayed, it would have been tight getting the film dubbed and mixed for the 6 May [German] release." In any case, most major releases can now be delivered digitally to cinemas via satellite, so Europe is unlikely to be bereft of new Hollywood movies if the ash cloud fails to dissipate in the near future.
Further ahead, the ongoing travel chaos might – in the worst case scenario – affect the Cannes film festival, due to start on 12 May. A Croisette sans overseas stars would be a rare event, as would a Marché du Film that wasn't vying for the chequebooks of distributors from lucrative territories such as Asia and the US.