454,000 attend New York's Tribeca Film Festival

NEW YORK, April 29 (UPI) -- Nearly a half-million people attended New York City's Tribeca Film Festival and street fair, one of the festival's highest turnouts, organizers said Monday.

Of the estimated 454,000-plus attendees, more than 117,000 saw the festival's 89 feature films and 60 shorts over 12 days, the organizers said.

The festival -- founded in 2002 by actor-director Robert De Niro, producer Jane Rosenthal and her husband, children's author, investor and philanthropist Craig Hatkoff -- ran April 17-28 in lower Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood.

This year's turnout beat last year's 380,000 by more than 74,000, organizers told United Press International.

The only times the attendee count was higher was when the festival was two days longer, in 2006-2008, they told UPI.

Some 6,200 people saw this year's free, three-night outdoor drive-in movie series on the Hudson River, organizers said.

The series screened the classic Alfred Hitchcock film "The Birds," the Tim Burton comedy "Beetlejuice" and the new documentary "Lil Bub & Friendz," about Internet celebrity Grumpy Cat -- real name Tardar Sauce -- known for her grumpy facial expression.

The festival's biggest crowd -- estimated by police at 325,000 -- came out for Saturday's daylong street fair, which included live performances from Broadway show casts and visits from New York sports teams.

The street-fair day included a sneak-preview screening of the upcoming comedy "The Smurfs 2," to be released July 31.

More than 2,400 attended the festival's free talks, and about 3,200 attended other events, organizers told UPI.

"Experiencing the films and events with our audiences over the past 12 days has been incredible," Rosenthal said in a statement Monday.

"It is so rewarding to watch their reactions and hear them engage with our filmmakers at the Q&A's after the screenings," she said. "It proves there is no better audience than New Yorkers!"