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"Captain America: The Winter Soldier," starring Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson, will have a Cleveland premiere before the action thriller opens nationwide. (Walt Disney Studios/Marvel Studios)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland will host a premiere of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" on Tuesday, April 1.

"It has been a big priority of ours obviously to be able to have a premiere there and thank the people of Cleveland," said co-director Joe Russo Thursday on the phone from Los Angeles. "We want to have a premiere that includes the local cast and crew and make some tickets available to the general public. It's a way to say thanks and pay back the city for being such a great host."

Cleveland is not normally a movie premiere city. But when Marvel and Disney roll the action thriller out across the country and the world, the list of premiere cities will be limited: London, Paris, Beijing, Los Angeles and Cleveland.

“It was a massive priority for us to do this in Cleveland, and the Marvel and Disney people agreed,” said Joe Russo.

Brothers Joe and Anthony spent about six weeks in Cleveland last summer with two large crews shooting huge chunks of the film that stars Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Redford. The Russos are busy putting the final post-production touches on the film, including touching up the visual effects, working on the 3-D transformation, sound mixing and color-timing. It should wrap in about two weeks.

"The city looks great on screen," said Anthony Russo on the same phone call. In terms of having a screening here, he said, "thanks to the things that Ivan Schwarz has done in Cleveland, the industry is taking notice, and this is a way for the industry to support that."

Schwarz, executive director of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission, has worked to bring several movie productions here in the past few years, including "Marvel's The Avengers," "Alex Cross" and "Draft Day."

Details on the premiere are still being worked out. (I will circle back with more information as the time, location and other plans are finalized.) “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” opens nationwide on Friday, April 4.

The film has enjoyed perpetual buzz over the past few weeks, especially following a new trailer shown during the Super Bowl extravaganza.

The brothers said they were not allowed to comment on the rumors that they have been signed to also direct the follow-up “Captain America 3” (or whatever it will be called).

Recalling the ire over the closing of the West Shoreway for two weeks last summer, Joe Russo said, “We messed up a lot of morning commutes. This is one way of saying, ‘The Russo brothers apologize for the traffic.’”