The new Universal Pictures comedy ‘The Five Year Engagement’ has been selected to open the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. The movie, which was directed, written and produced by Nicholas Stoller, will have its world premiere at the festival on Wednesday, April 18.

‘The Five Year Engagement,’ which hits theaters on April 27, picks up where most romantic comedies leave off. The movie explores what happens when an engaged couple, played by co-writer Jason Segel and Emily Blunt, keeps getting tripped up on the road to their wedding. ‘The Five Year Engagement,’ which also stars Rhys Ifans, Chris Pratt and Alison Brie, was produced by Judd Apatow and Rodney Rothman.

Of ‘The Five Year Engagement’ premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, Stoller said “When (Jason) and I met during the production of ‘Undeclared,’ we couldn’t have imagined that one day we would write a comedy that would open such a prestigious film festival.” The filmmaker added “We are so honored that the festival organizers have given us this platform to premiere the film.”

Jane Rosenthal, who co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival with Robert De Niro in 2002, said the festival “has always celebrated the power of creative collaboration, and there is no better example of that than ‘The Five Year Engagement,'” she said. “We are so pleased to join with Universal Pictures to bring the wit and energy of this hilarious and affecting film to Tribeca as we kick off our 11th edition.”

Written by: Karen Benardello