In a year that had Volver, Babel, Pan’s Labyrinth, Marie Antoinette, The Wind That Shakes The Barley, The Family Friend (and many more), a superhero movie found its way into the non-competitive selection: X Men 3: The Last Stand. Directed by Brett Ratner while Almodóvar, del Toro, and Coppola walked the red carpet, Marvel filled the super-Hollywood material with its entry for the Summer box office wars, and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) and Halle Berry (Storm) waltzed for the press contingent outside the Palais.

New York Times critic Manohla Dargis wrote about the movie: “Hollywood has always had a presence at the Cannes Film Festival, though in the old days the movies were pretty good. The big studios are generally out of the high-quality movie business these days (that’s why specialty divisions were invented, but as long as they remain in the star business, there will always be room for them at Cannes.”