LONDON, England (CNN) -- The most eagerly anticipated animated film this year hits big screens this weekend, as "The Simpsons Movie" opens worldwide. The Screening Room spoke to creator Matt Groening and writer Al Jean in London about everyone's favorite two-dimensional yellow family. Simpsons supremo Matt Groening with his creations at the film's premiere in Springfield, Vermont Matt Groening told the Screening Room that fans had driven the demand for the movie. "We've had fans clamoring for a movie for the past 18 years," he said. The film has taken four years to come to fruition, as writer Al Jean explained. "What really held us up for a long time was to have enough people to do the show and the movie," he said. "We talked for a while about doing the movie after the show is done, but the show is never done! So it really started in earnest in 2003, when we started working on this story that became the movie." Technology has also played its part. Jean continued, "The technology to do this film really wasn't even around five years ago. For example, there was this joke I once pitched and David Silverman, the director, started drawing and as I was pitching it, it went into the film and it was cut a day later. To go from pitch to cut in two days is pretty impressive." Its creators hope that "The Simpsons Movie" will both satisfy long-term fans and bring Homer and Marge's family to a new audience. Groening told the Screening Room, "This movie is designed to both honor the people who have loved the show all this time, so there's lots of little details for them in the movie, little characters and stuff who they know and love, but we also want people who don't know the family to not be completely confused. It is a complete movie experience, but again, we have a lot of little details that only the really, true die-hard fans are going to get." And fans can expect to be entertained by plenty of cartoon mishaps. Groening said, "When you see somebody fall off the roof in a live-action film, it's funny -- we all love it. But it's not as funny as when Homer falls off the roof.

"The Simpson's Movie" premier was held where?

(CNN) -- Cuba will pardon more than 2,900 prisoners, the government said Friday, though U.S. subcontractor Alan Gross is not among those who will be freed. The decision to release the prisoners follows "numerous requests" from their family members and religious institutions, and is a humanitarian gesture, said Cuban President Raul Castro. Among those who might be freed are prisoners over the age of 60, along with those who are sick, female or young with no previous criminal record. With some exceptions, prisoners convicted of spying, terrorism, murder and drug trafficking will not be released. Those who will be freed have already served a "important" part of their sentences and exhibited good behavior, according to an official statement published on the state-run website Cubadebate. The jailed American, Gross, will not be among those pardoned, the Cuban Interests Section in Washington said. Gross was jailed in December 2009, when he was working as a subcontractor on a U.S. Agency for International Development project aimed at spreading democracy. Castro has accused him of importing satellite equipment to connect dissidents to the Internet, and this year Cuba's highest court upheld the 15-year sentence imposed on Gross for committing crimes against the security of the state. He has maintained his innocence and said he was trying to help connect the Jewish community to the Internet. Castro, speaking to the National Assembly, said that 86 prisoners from 25 countries would be among those released in coming days. He cited the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI as one of the motivations behind the move, which he said showed the "generosity and strength of the revolution." The pope has said he plans to visit Mexico and Cuba before Easter.

What was Gross accused of that ultimately led to his arrest in December 2009?

The mighty fane, with its three massive towers, rises majestically over the red roofs of the town. Its most striking feature is the great Norman screen, running up without buttresses or projections to the parapet and hiding the bases of the square, richly decorated towers of the west front. The plain centre of the screen is the work of Remigius, the first bishop. The rest of it is relieved with rich arcading of Late Norman and Early English periods. The wooden spires which crowned the towers were removed in 1807. In 1192 Hugh of Avalon determined to rebuild the Norman building of Remigius, which an earthquake had shaken. To him we owe the choir and eastern transept. His successors completed the western transept and began the west end of the nave. So much money had to be spent in rebuilding the central tower, which fell in 1239, that the canons could not rebuild the nave entirely, but had to incorporate the Norman end by Remigius. Unfortunately the axis of the west front does not correspond to that of the nave, which is too wide for its height. The low vaulting is a serious defect in the choir built by St. Hugh, but of the superb beauty of the Angel Choir, which encloses his shrine, there can be no doubt. In its richness of sculpture it is one of the masterpieces of Gothic architecture in England. The interior of the cathedral is remarkable for the harmony of its style, which is Lancet-Gothic, and the dim lighting of the nave only adds to its impressiveness.
What architectural style the Angel Choir belongs to?