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.
Continue reading “See The Phantom Menace 3D poster in action”
Belgian chain to offer scary-looking Star Wars burgers
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.
In the news: Phantom Menace 3D is news to Ewan
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.
Digital Yoda appears on Russian TPM 3-D poster
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.
Video: A new production peek at The Hobbit
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?)
Sky Movies chief pins 3-D hopes on Star Wars, Titanic
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)
Video: The Phantom Menace 3-D trailer, officially
After 20th Century Fox went on tear copyrighting all the fan versions to death, the official Star Wars Youtube account has posted a copy of The Phantom Menace‘s 3-D trailer in 2-D. It’s plagued by (different, darker) color issues, but it’s up. The new version seems to be color corrected.
All-prequels in the news with Samuel L. Jackson, Ewan McGregor, and Peter Serafinowicz
Records. The Guinness Book of World Records has named Samuel L. Jackson the world’s highest-grossing actor. His films – which include not only the prequels but other blockbusters like Jurassic Park, The Incredibles and Iron Man 2 – have brought in a staggering $7.42 billion dollars.
Strange saberfellows. Noel Gallagher of the band Oasis was a neighbor of Ewan McGregor when he got the part of Obi-Wan – and he was the first to teach Ewan how to fight with a lightsaber. “I just happened to have two of those lightsaber toys, so I said, ‘Come on – in the back garden.'”
Uh-oh. Peter Serafinowicz – the original voice of Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace – told Digital Spy that he didn’t think the film was very good. “”But it was certainly an extremely exciting thing to be a part of,” he goes on to say.
Technology. Learn a little more about Prime Focus, the company doing The Phantom Menace’s 3-D conversion, from India’s Economic Times
Video: The Phantom Menace 3-D trailer
Curious about The Phantom Menace 3-D trailer, but not enough to pay to see The Three Musketeers or any of the weekend’s other 3-D offerings? TFN has a copy. TFN’s copy is kaput, but here’s a Youtube version. Found another. Cross your fingers.
Obviously it’s not in 3-D here, and the colors are a bit off – I’m told that’s a symptom of the re-conversion back into 2-D.
Darth Maul finally coming to Clone Wars; Phantom Menace 3-D trailer with The Three Musketeers
The Clone Wars will be cashing the check it wrote in season 3’s Savage Opress arc this spring: Darth Maul is back, and Entertainment Weekly has video.
UPDATE: USA Today has another image of Maul that shows more detail. They also reveal that we can expect a trailer for The Phantom Menace attached to Paul W.S. Anderson’s crazy steampunk-looking The Three Musketeers on Oct. 21. (via) Meanwhile, StarWars.com has a glimpse of the TPM 3-D poster.
It’s “an amazing storytelling opportunity,” they say. Personally, I find a resurrected Maul less facepalm-worthy than some of the other stuff they came up with last year, so, hey: Bring it on.