All of a sudden the Cannes Film Festival has discovered that scifi and fantasy is a big deal, something we fans have always known.

At this year’s 59th annual Cannes Film Festival, which begins May 17th, there will be big parties thrown and accolades all around as some of the biggest names in showbiz gather in France to watch the screening of “X-Men: The Last Stand.”

The other big news is that not only will the Ron Howard big screen adaptation of Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” be screening, but it will open the festival. The Code stars Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen and Jean Reno. They, along with Howard are expected to be in attendance at the opening event.

Also on tap will be the premiere of Hugh Jackman’s new scifi drama called “The Fountain.” We will be discussing this flick on our next show, and Dreamworks’ new computer animated fantasy feature “Over the Hedge” starring the voices of Bruce Willis, William Shatner, Steve Carell, Gary Shandling, Eugene Levy and Thomas Hayden Church will get the a real Cannes Festival push.