Club Jade

So Friday sees the release of The Phantom Menace 3D. Drew McWeeny praises the conversion, and his kid loved it (and he has a funny story about being banned from Skywalker Ranch.) Coming Soon’s Chris and Benjamin Mason were “blown away” by the conversion, though Richard Gray of The Reel Bits is less impressed, calling it “disappointing” and “murky.” But it’s The Phantom Menace, so of course the reviews are mixed.

In any case, our pal Bryan Young really wants you to see it. Others… Not so much. (I’m debating, but… Well.) Of course.

But the real question…

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Volkswagen’s second Star Wars ad officially debuted during the Super Bowl last night, and although reception in the fandom was lukewarm, (‘last year’s was better’) it seems to have done fairly well with the general audience, and the dog (and his fat suit) even got a small spotlight from the Los Angeles Times.

For instance, San Francisco Chronicle’s Peter Hartlaub named it his second best, behind only the Clint Eastwood Chrysler spot. The Salt Lake Tribune’s Scott D. Pierce named it his #1. Salon’s Mary Elizabeth Williams admits that the spot was “shameless” and not as good as last years, but came out in favor because, well, dogs and Star Wars. The A.V. Club were less impressed, calling the dog “fairly cute” but saying the Star Wars endcap was “buzz insurance”.

But, naturally, democracy reigns, and you can vote for your own favorites on Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and even the NFL themselves, where the VW spot is currently #3.

Making a surprise showing last night was a spot for The Phantom Menace 3D, which was apparently named the “the most-memorable movie spot” in one poll.

Ten AMC theaters in the U.S. will hold the screenings, which will include Podracer 3D glasses and a free toy with each ticket. There will also be face painting, LEGOs, character appearances (aka your friendly neighborhood 501st and Rebel Legion members) and Xbox Kinect demonstrations.

The participating theaters are in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix and San Francisco, though it appears the free toy offer may apply to all AMC theaters.

The Daily Blam has five new posters for the rerelease of The Phantom Menace 3D. (See the other two at the link.) There’s something very 80′s about that blue one, no?

First Showing spotted an animated version of The Phantom Menace poster on Vimeo. We can’t really be sure if it’s official, but it is kinda neat: Check it out beneath the cut.

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A Belgian fast food chain, Quick, will be offering several Star Wars themed burgers to tie into The Phantom Menace rerelease. They do not look all that appetizing, but if you happen to be in France or Belgium for the month of February, you can go ahead and give them a try. Or not.

GQ breaks the news. It sure seems like Ewan McGregor will be everywhere this year, but apparently the guy’s been so busy that it seems the first he’s heard of The Phantom Menace 3D is from the folks at the magazine. “They’re actually going to rerelease it into the cinema?” he asked GQ. “Well, that’s interesting.” Yeah, can’t say we’d be wildly enthusiastic to find out that our (hypothetical) rat-tail would be in three dimensions either. In other straight-from-1999 news, the Pepsi tie-ins are back.

Hobson profiled. Chicago businesswoman and Good Morning America contributor Mellody Hobson, perhaps best known to us as George Lucas’ girlfriend, is the subject of a brief profile in Forbes. She and Lucas will be featured on the January 15th episode of Oprah’s Next Chapter.

Gaming. The Old Republic might be coming to Mac. Nice try, folks.

Lucasfilm. George Lucas has big plans for a new digital technology facility at Grady Ranch, but some folks in Marin County aren’t exactly welcoming it with open arms.

Guess Maul won’t be headlining all the promotional materials for The Phantom Menace 3-D… A Russian poster features the CGI version of Yoda. Click on the thumbnail at right to see the full poster.

It’s no surprise that the CGI version will be featured, since the subpar Phantom Menace puppet version was entirely replaced on the Blu-ray version of the film, but it’s an interesting bit of trivia nonetheless.

Dwarves! Hobbits! Peter Jackson! Martin Freeman! Ian McKellen! Elijah Wood! 3-D! A hell of a lot about shooting in 3-D, actually. (Mirkwood: Ye olde Pandora?)

The head of Sky Movies, Ian Lewis, thinks that Star Wars or Titanic could make 2-D to 3-D conversions appeal to the mass market.

“I know everybody is experimenting with it but I’ve yet to see a made for 2D movie where I’ve though the 3D conversion is good enough.

“We’re hopeful for the first half of next year where you have George Lucas releasing Phantom Menace in 3D and Cameron releasing Titanic, and one of those two, or between them, they will crack it.”

Certainly having the 3-D version of The Lion King be a hit helps as well, but animation is generally easier to convert. (via)