Star Wars

[The Duke]

Pompous bullshit is right, I believe. Hey, could Ron Mexico make a good jedi?

[stallion]

Who, me or Michael Vick? Sure, I could be a good Jedi. I wouldn't even use a lightsaber. I'd just whack evildoers with my wang. VADER! KNEEL BEFORE THE FURY! *whap* Vick, I dunno. Sure, why not.

[muthagoose]

Star Wars Producer Gary Kurtz to Auction Luke Skywalker's Screen-Used Jedi Light Saber and Other Original Star Wars Artifacts on July 29, 2005
Tuesday July 5, 1:12 pm ET

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., July 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Beverly Hills auctioneer Profiles in History will auction treasures from the archive of filmmaker Gary Kurtz on Friday, July 29, 2005 at 11:00 a.m. PDT. Kurtz was the producer of Star Wars and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, as well as American Graffiti, Return to Oz and Dark Crystal. He received two Academy Award nominations for Best Picture (Star Wars & American Graffiti). Working closely with George Lucas from 1973-1981 as vice president of Lucasfilm, Kurtz was instrumental in developing the Star Wars trilogy and bringing the first two blockbuster films to the silver screen. Throughout his lengthy career, he has amassed a huge personal archive of film memorabilia. To help fund the restoration and conservation of artifacts in the Kurtz Archive, over 75 Star Wars related pieces have been selected for de-accession. Their sale will ensure that many more pieces in the Archive can be preserved for future generations.

HIGHLIGHTS from the KURTZ COLLECTION

* Luke Skywalker hero light saber from Star Wars. (TCF, 1977) Estimate:
$60,000-80,000.
* Luke's X-Wing flight suit from Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back.
(TCF, 1977&1980) Estimate: $60,000-80,000.
* Darth Vader hero light saber from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
(TCF, 1980) Estimate: $40,000-60,000.
* Original screen-used Stormtrooper blaster from Star Wars. (TCF, 1977)
Estimate: $25,000-30,000.

Profiles in History's LIVE public auction will include over 640 items worth two million dollars! The auction house is recognized for setting world record prices on some of Hollywood's most prized artifacts. Collectors from around the world will bid on vintage and contemporary Hollywood artifacts from film and television including props, costumes, costume designs, production art, photographs and more.

Auction highlights include:

* Harrison Ford signature leather jacket from Indiana Jones and the Last
Crusade. (Paramount, 1989) Est: $40,000-50,000.
* Original Derelict Ship set piece from the first two Alien films.
(TCF, 1979 & 1986, resp.) Est: $40,000-$60,000.
* "Sarek & Amanda" Star Trek costumes from "Journey to Babel". (NBC-TV,
1966-69) Est: $30,000-40,000.
* Prop grandfather clock from The Munsters. (CBS-TV, 1964-66) Est:
$25,000-35,000.
* Burgess Meredith "Penguin" tuxedo shirt from Batman. (ABC-TV,
1966-68) Est: $20,000-25,000.
* Frank Gorshin suit worn as "The Riddler" in the very first Batman
episode. (ABC-TV, 1966-68) Est: $15,000-20,000.
* Tom Hanks complete costume from Saving Private Ryan. (Paramount,
1998) Est: $12,000-15,000.
* Capt. Nemo's skiff from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. (Walt Disney,
1954) Est: $12,000-15,000.
* Miniature Batmobile from the first Batman film. (Warner Bros., 1989)
Est: $12,000-15,000.
* Original 4077th hometown mileage signpost from M*A*S*H. (CBS-TV,
1972-83) Est: $10,000-12,000.
* Robin William's electronic hero costume from Bicentennial Man.
(Columbia, 1999) Est: $10,000-12,000.
* Prop cello used by Lucille Ball in the pilot episode of I Love Lucy.
(CBS-TV, 1951-57) Est: $10,000-12,000.
* John Travolta leather chaps from Urban Cowboy. (Paramount, 1980)
Est: $10,000-12,000.
* Vintage coffeepot radio from Hogan's Heroes. (CBS-TV, 1965-71) Est:
$10,000-12,000.
* John Wayne utility jacket from The Sands of Iowa Jima. (Republic,
1949) Est: $8,000-10,000.
* Archive of 52 binders with hundreds of Gone With The Wind publicity
stills. (MGM, 1939) Est: $8,000-10,000.
* Kirk Douglas gladiator armor from Spartacus. (UIP, 1960) Est:
$8,000-10,000.
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer amulet. (UPN&WB-TV, 1997-2003) Est:
$6,000-8,000.
* Bill Travilla costume sketch of Marilyn Monroe's dress from Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes (TCF, 1953) Est: $6,000-8,000.

Collectors may bid in person, live on the Internet at www.ebayliveauctions.com, by phone or fax. Visit Profiles in History on the web at www.profilesinhistory.com. Profiles in History is located at 110 N. Doheny Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. Joseph Maddalena, President of Profiles in History, is available for interviews and auction items are available for filming. For more information, please contact Lorna Hart at [e-mail] or at [phone].

[LotB]

Pompous bullshit, indeed. Jedi faggots. I want to be a Sith lord.

[muthagoose]

The epic intergalactic adventure of the "Star Wars" saga is finally complete, and audiences can celebrate the unforgettable fun and thrills of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith when the year's biggest box-office hit debuts Nov. 1 from Fox Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm Ltd. The simultaneous release of "Star Wars Battlefront II," the sequel to the best-selling "Star Wars" video game of all time, makes Nov. 1 a milestone day in "Star Wars" history.

The two-disc "Revenge of the Sith" DVD will include a brand-new, full-length documentary produced by Lucasfilm Ltd.; two new featurettes -- one exploring the prophecy of Anakin Skywalker as the Chosen One, the other providing an in-depth look at the movie's eye-popping stunts; and a 15-part collection of Lucasfilm's groundbreaking "web documentaries."

"'Revenge of the Sith' gave audiences an extraordinary experience, and we want this DVD to do the same," said Jim Ward, Vice President of Marketing and Distribution for Lucasfilm Ltd. "From the beginning of production, George wanted to be sure we chronicled everything that went into the making of Episode III specifically to create an incredible DVD experience. This DVD has literally been three years in the making, and it's going to be a fantastic way to complete the 'Star Wars' saga at home."

Adding to the in-home "Star Wars" adventure is the release on Nov. 1 of the eagerly anticipated "Star Wars Battlefront II" from LucasArts -- the sequel to the best-selling "Star Wars" video game of all time. "Star Wars Battlefront II" adds all-new space combat, playable Jedi characters, and never-before-seen environments straight out of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. The game will be released for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Xbox® video game system from Microsoft, Windows platforms, and Sony PSP(TM). Fans of the original "Star Wars Battlefront" will also enjoy an all-new single-player experience that takes players through an epic, story-based saga centering on Darth Vader's elite 501st Legion of Stormtroopers, where every action the player takes impacts the battlefront and, ultimately, the fate of the "Star Wars" galaxy.

The "Revenge of the Sith" DVD will offer access to a special Xbox-playable demo of two entire levels from LucasArts' "Star Wars Battlefront II."

"The combination of 'Revenge of the Sith' on DVD and 'Star Wars Battlefront II' makes Nov. 1 a watershed day for 'Star Wars' fans. It's really going to be a terrific celebration of the entire saga," Ward said.

In addition to its debut in the U.S. and Canada, "Revenge of the Sith" debuts on DVD in most major territories around the world on or about the same day.

The DVD release of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith marks the first time that fans can own all six episodes of the saga. "After seeing 'Revenge of the Sith', moviegoers around the world told us that they immediately wanted to watch Episode IV to see how the entire saga comes together, and now they'll be able to do just that, making the 'Star Wars' experience richer and more exciting than ever," Ward said.

In "Revenge of the Sith," the Clone Wars rage, widening the rift between Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) and the Jedi Council. Young Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is caught in the middle, his allegiances torn. Seduced by promises of power and temptations of the dark side, he pledges himself to evil Darth Sidious, becoming Darth Vader. Together, the Sith Lords set in motion a plot of revenge against the Jedi. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) tries to turn Anakin back to the light side, leading to a climactic lightsaber battle that will decide the fate of the galaxy.

[LotB]

That's cool that the DVD will be released November 1st. I feared that we'd have to wait years as in other cases.

[stallion]

Episodes 1 and 2 came out on DVD pretty quick, so it's not surprising. I wonder if Lucas is doing a special box set for the prequels like he did for the original trilogy?

[muthagoose]

In his keynote talk at the annual Siggraph computer graphics conference and tradeshow Monday, George Lucas said the company would be more focused on TV, all but ruling out producing or financing movies for others to write and direct.

"My life's too short to become a film studio," he said.

Instead, filmmakers who want to work with Lucasfilm will be steered toward two projected TV series.

"Lucasfilm is going more into television, but it's not a vision I'm running, either as executive producer or by laying out the groundwork," said Lucas.

He confirmed that the company is already at work on two "Star Wars"-themed TV skeins.

"I'll never let go of 'Star Wars,' " he told a crowd of some 4,000 computer pros at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The first is a 3-D animated "Clone Wars" series that will be made at Lucas Animation's Singapore facility. He said he'll start scouring Asia for talent and try to build up 3-D animation there.

"It's also a way for me to get my foot into anime, which I like," he said.

With the live-action series, he said, "we're going do something that would normally cost ($20 million-$30 million) and try to do it for $1 million," citing "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" as one show where he was able to stretch his production budget.

He said he'll shoot the series on a Sony digital camera system that anyone can buy at an electronics store.

Lucas added, "Television is an easier medium to work in (than film). ... It's more fun, there's less pressure and it's a great medium to experiment in."

As for his personal plans, he said that while he has hundreds of ideas for projects, he expected to go into more esoteric filmmaking "that focuses on the visual side of things."

Lucas delivered a sanguine assessment of the state of digital cinema technology. Though he admitted to some frustration at the slow pace at which the industry has adopted digital tools and projection, "The real leap has been made," he said.

"Digital cinema is here. It's not like we're going to reinvent the wheel. It's been reinvented."

One of Lucasfilm's ongoing projects, though, will be "client education": teaching studio executives, development execs and directors about digital tools. He called this job "the toughest" kind of instruction.

"People who work in the industry and make decisions about computer graphics don't know what it is, how to speak the language or how to save money."

Lucas received a standing ovation from the crowd as he took the stage. Though introduced as the "godfather of digital cinema," Lucas told the aud he's no computer expert and doesn't understand techies when they talk technology.

"I really don't care how you do this stuff," he said, "I just thank God you're doing it. "

Lucas admitted that while he has taken big chances, fostering the technologies that gave rise to Industrial Light & Magic, Pixar and other tech powerhouses, he hasn't always seen a big return.

"I'm not afraid of risks as long as I think I can win," he said. "When you're first out of the box you lose every time. But it sure is fun to be first out of the box."

He sounded a nostalgic note as he talked about visiting Peter Jackson at Weta Digital, where Jackson is working on "King Kong." "It was like the early days of ILM. They're down there working in this little closet, suffering and not even knowing it."

With its new digs at the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco's Presidio, ILM could hardly be further from those days.

"Companies are like sharks, they have to swim or die," Lucas said. "They have to grow. I told Peter he should come up to ILM to see what his company will look like in 20 years. If that's what he wants to do."

Lucas said he didn't think ILM could get any bigger, and that if a studio came in and tried to build a bigger f/x business, "we're not going to try to compete on that basis."

"You lose too much of the humanity," he said.

Siggraph is the Assn. for Computer Machinery's annual conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques.

The Siggraph conference schedule began Sunday, while the tradeshow opens today. Both run through Friday. (As reported by VARIETY)

[muthagoose]

For LOTB and The Duke...

[muthagoose]

With little over a month left until release, Lucasfilm has finally revealed full details about the Star Wars: Episode III DVD bonus materials.

The centerpiece of the two-disc set will be "Within a Minute," a newly produced documentary that delves into the complexity of creating a single 49-second sequence from the film. From pre-production artists to costume designers, from camera operators to make-up artists, from sound designers to musicians, "Within a Minute" showcases the massive amount of work that goes into one short sequence. This one-of-a-kind journey was created from more than 600 hours of material gathered throughout the process of making "Revenge of the Sith" and is hosted by producer Rick McCallum.

Other bonus features include a newly recorded audio commentary featuring George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Rob Coleman, John Knoll and other key members of the movie's crew, two brand-new featurettes -- "The Chosen One" and "It's All for Real" -- that look at Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader and the creation of the amazing stunts in the climactic lightsaber duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi, newly completed deleted scenes (including Yoda's arrival on the swamp-planet of Dagobah) with introductions by Lucas and MacCallum, the fifteen-part web documentary series, poster and print campaigns, "A Hero Falls" music video, trailers and 15 TV spots, two playable levels from "Star Wars Battlefront II," Battlefront II and "Star Wars: Empire at War" game trailers and DVD-ROM weblinks with exclusive material.

Look for the set on November 1st.

[Captain Obvious]

That "Hero Falls" music video is pretty awesome, I can't wait for this DVD to drop

[muthagoose]

From http://www.comingsoon.net:

Rick McCallum on Star Wars & More

"Star Wars" producer Rick McCallum talked more about the franchise and the upcoming Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith DVD at a press event at Skywalker Ranch this week. While we previously posted his comments on the upcoming animated and live-action "Star Wars" series, what follows is the full Q&A:

Q: What happened to Qui-Gon?

Rick McCallum: Actually, there was a thought. It was more like a "thoughtette". It was just a quick assembly of little sequences when Yoda is thinking. And George [Lucas] originally thought, "Well maybe it would be nice to have Liam [Neeson] come in." And then we did a little voice-over without Liam just to check it out and see what it would be like, but it just didn't really seem to have the impact that we had originally planned on, so we never shot it. We never went anywhere with it.

Q: Is same animation company that did Clone Wars also animating the new TV cartoon series?

McCallum: No. The animation is being done right now as we speak. I mean, it's starting to prep. You'd be able to talk to Rob Coleman about it. He's deeply involved in it. That's being done here at the Ranch. A lot of the effects will be done in Singapore, but that won't really start moving forward. It's just now conceptual work and script work now. We have to get done doing 13 scripts first before we really get into the pipeline of it. But that will start happening at the end of March. And the live-action television series is something we are planning for at the beginning of 2007. We are just starting to interview writers and trying to really figure out which direction to go to. It is going to be much darker, grittier. It's much more character-based. He envisions somewhere like 100 hours between Episode III and Episode IV with a lot of characters that we haven't met that have been developed in some of the novels and other things. We are really excited about that. Finally, we could have the opportunity to answer everybody's questions once and for all by the time we finish the series.

Jim Ward: We're also excited at Lucasarts about that opportunity as well because it's a whole new environment for us to go and make some great games.

Q: What are the plans for the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles with the boom of TV shows on DVD?

McCallum: We have been upgrading the quality of the original 60 mm image. We are also re-doing the soundtracks so that people can take advantage of it in their home. But also over the last 18 months, we have been doing….we're up to like 56, 60 documentaries now —and we're planning 95 altogether plus a lot of lectures that tie in the historical aspects of what's taking place in relationship to where Indy is as this young kid and as a young man. So I'm really excited about that. It will have finally the opportunity to get it out to the audience worldwide that it never really reached in the United States. Because it was an extraordinary success outside of America. And even though we had 10, 11 million really faithful viewers and we were put all over the place, it was just that during that period when network television was falling apart. So, we never really got the mileage that we really expected or wanted. So I'm really thrilled that the DVDs look great so far. We've got about 3 completed. We have 22 that we're doing all together. And you know it's going to be exciting. That will be done in about 18 months. The thing about the DVDs for us is we don't just do one video master for anything. We really make an effort to try and get the best quality that we possibly can, putting the best material, and it does take a long time. We've been working for almost 2 years on this (ROTS) DVD. We've been simultaneously finishing up the film and also at the same time trying to put some really great stuff together.

Q: What films is George working on next? Is he still doing the Tuskegee Airmen project?

McCallum: Yes, in fact we're meeting today. We have 15 of the original pilots. That's what we've been doing all this morning which I'll go rush back to as soon as I'm finished with this. They're here for the next three days. We're just going through their experiences and listening to everything that they have to go through. That's something that's really coming up for him. We don't have a writer yet. We're starting to really figure out what going come out of these next three days and then we'll start on that immediately. I don't think we will be shooting that until the end of next year or the following year, 2006 or 2007. But at least we're making a real of headway on that.

Q: Does he have anything else in mind?

McCallum: Yes, he's gone completely nuts. He's mad. He's doing the Indiana Jones (4) script, which he should finish by Sunday. Then he's meeting with Steven [Spielberg] next week to try and figure out where they're going to go and what changes they want to make on it. He's got another idea for an animated musical which I won't tell you about. Plus, literally dozens of documentaries. He hasn't really focused yet on what we're going to do after we get this first tranche out, once we get the series started and once we get Red Tails completed. But that's really more to do with the fact that we only just completed the worldwide tour of Star Wars in the middle of August. We've just been settling down trying to get this basic stuff in terms of the animation / live action series going. And then he'll start to really get into what he wants to do which will be interesting.

Q: Will the live action series be shot in HI-DEF? Will the principal photography be shot in Northern California?

McCallum: No, the principal photography will take place all around the world, probably with the base in Sydney. Yes, we will be shooting in HI-DEF. Or, if anything else evolves within the next 12 months that would replace HI-DEF. I don't see that happening, but there may be new or less expensive cameras with more optical imagery bits or optical discs that we record on. But basically, it will be HI-DEF, yes.

Q: Can you talk about bringing the Star Wars saga into 3-D?

McCallum: It's a two part problem right now. One, there's only about a 100 or maybe 350 to 400 screens worldwide with digital screens. But I'm really exciting that finally after all this bulls**t that we've been waiting for and listening to about the industry trying to get its stuff together, it looks like the first real deployment of digital cinema is going to take place at the beginning of the year. And that's being done by a couple of companies. I am praying that they won't lose focus, that the industry will finally come together for the first time and really start to respect their audiences for the first time. Theater owners really understand that 3-D is the catalyst to make them understand we really need to do something about our falling audiences. And I don't think that's just an issue about the quality of films. I think because of DVD, because of the access to large-screen TV sets—there is this sociological change taking place in the world in which young kids starting to see their movies. But nevertheless, I am very excited that, once we get to the point of about 2 and a half, 3,000 screens, then we will start the process of working with some of the companies that are out there. One of those companies who's doing a post-production process which takes a 2-D movie like all six or ours and creates a 3-D image which creates no eye-strain. You can sit there for two hours and just ….the most fantastic glasses…. anywhere in the theater. We've done not only major tests for it, we've done sections of Episode IV that area really startling. Because in the process, you can literally pick out every visual effect and change the perspective of it as you deal with each element. And often in our pictures we have 20 or 30 different elements. So even though the film wasn't planned around the idea that 3-D would become available, we can actually take advantage of it. So I think it's going to be a major form of entertainment soon. Peter Jackson is going to have a King Kong version at the end of his theatrical run, Jim Cameron's next picture is going to be shot in 3-D, Robert Rodriguez is continuing and so is [Robert] Zemeckis. So I think finally, these big guys are gonna really dictate to the studios that 3-D is something very exciting for them. It's not for everything, obviously, and it's not for every film, but for certain live action huge movies it presents a really extraordinary opportunity to differentiate between the DVD market and the theatrical market.

Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith will be available on DVD November 1st.

[muthagoose]

Variety reports:

Next month, the DVD and vidgame of "Episode III" hits shops, backed by a $60 million global marketing campaign.

In 2007, the 30th anniversary of the original "Star Wars" movie, a new CG-animated series will hit TV screens, while a year later "Star Wars" will morph into a "hard-hitting live-action TV series," Roffman said. Both TV projects were announced earlier this year by George Lucas.

"The films may have ended, but the franchise hasn't," Roffman said. "It has been around 30 years, and this isn't even the midpoint."

In a keynote speech on licensing titled "Star Wars: Past Present and Future," Roffman recalled joining Lucas' company in a time when "Star Wars" was so has-been, you couldn't give away merchandising.

But when he nervously passed on the message that one client had told him the franchise was dead, Lucas replied, "It isn't dead. It's just hibernating."

The "Star Wars" pics went on to earn $4.2 billion at the global box office and $11 billion in video rental and sales.

"I'm bullish on the future, as I know the awesome staying power of the brand," Roffman said.

In another glimpse into the megabucks end of the licensing biz, Dan Romanelli, prexy of Warner Bros. Worldwide Consumer Products and recipient of this year's Mipcom's lifetime achievement award, reminisced about 1989, when 30 million "Batman" T-shirts were sold, causing a global shortage of black material.

Today, "The fuse burns quicker than ever for properties at retail," Romanelli pointed out, citing the impact of click-and-shop technology and retail consolidation, which are making it harder to get and keep product on shelves.

"Today, success is not a decade-long run -- it's usually two or three years," Romanelli said.

[The Duke]

Anyone heard many details about the Battlefront II game? From the little that I have heard, it sounds better than the original.

[LotB]

Here's a pretty good look: www.starwars.com/gaming/videogames/news/f20051013/index.html

see also: www.starwars.com/gaming/videogames/news/bf2_trailer.html

[CaticusRex]

Not sure if anyone has seen this...its an easter egg from the DVD of Ep.3 coming this tuesday.

gorillamask.net/yodadance.shtml

Check it out if you haven`t seen it!

[The Duke]

I especially like the end: "That voice, hard on my throat it is".

[Dementro]

Picked up Episode III and Battlefront 2 today. At Best Buy they also had Star Wars Limited Edition PEZ dispensers in the shapes of The Death Star, General Grevious, Chewbacca, Yoda Storm Tropper and a couple of others ( I don't have it in front of me right now) but it is one of 20,000 ( Ithink). Anyway, I am sure it will be worth nothing in the future and will grace my room along with my Monsters and a fight will insue.

[Ponyone]

Whoever has Sith - bring it to Ponyland!!!

[stallion]

It was only $15 at Best Buy yesterday. Picked that shit up, but I was disappointed with the deleted scenes. The Darth Vader documentary is pretty cool, though.

[Captain Obvious]

I agree, the deleted scenes are boring and pointless, the best one is Shaak Ti getting axed and the Yoda exile scene is laughably dull

[The Duke]

Anyone up for a group viewing of Sith anytime soon?

[LotB]

I saw those PEZ dispensers at K-Mart. I bought the Vader one and the Sidious/Palpatine one. It wasn't until I got home that I realized I had paid like $20 for each of them. Oh well, they're something to look at.

[muthagoose]

Hey Kids! Help line George Lucas's stocking with cold hard cash this holiday season!...



shop.starwars.com/catalog/product.xml?product_sku=SWHBHDVF&rid=FROOGP00001

[The Duke]

Getting ready to order mine now!