The fourth video in the series doesn’t reveal much about the sequels, but does get into some of the themes and philosophies of Star Wars.
Several Annie nominations for The Clone Wars, ILM, LEGO Star Wars team
The nominations for the 40th annual Annie Awards, showcasing the best in animation, were announced today, with a few nominations headed towards Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Joel Aron got a nomination for individual achievement for Animated Effects in an Animated Production (for the second year in a row).
Sam Witwer was nominated for voice acting for his role as Darth Maul in the season four finale ‘Revenge,’ while Keith Kellogg was a nominee for Character Animation in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production. The season five premiere, ‘Revival,’ was granted a nomination for Jason Tucker for Editorial in an Animated Television Production. The judges do love Maul.
Threshold Animation Studios earned an nomination for Best Animated Television Production For Children with their LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out, that aired back in September. See… more love for Maul! (Don’t forget our interview with writer Michael Price!)
Meanwhile, two teams from ILM got nominations for Animated Effects in a Live Action Production: The crews that worked on The Avengers and Battleship. Another ILM team was a nominee for Thor’s abs and Hawkeye’s butt Character Animation in a Live Action Production for The Avengers.
Overall, Disney and Pixar picked up a handful of nominations across the board, including 3 Best Picture noms for Brave, Wreck-It Ralph, and Frankenweenie. On the TV side, DreamWorks’ Dragons: The Riders of Berk snagged a slew of nominations for its crew.
“I am very excited about this year’s slate of nominees!” ASIFA-Hollywood president, Frank Gladstone, said in a statement. “We had more submissions to choose from this year than for any prior year in Annie Award history, running the gamut from big studio features to indie films, television series to internet shows, games, shorts and, for the first time, student films, all showcasing the huge variety of venues, creativity, technical innovation, and story-telling that our art form has to offer.”
The 40th Annual Annie Awards will take place on February 2, 2013 at UCLA and are selected and presented by the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood.
Legacy comic to return with new creative team, female Solo descendant
Dark Horse is reviving the Legacy series – with a whole host of fresh faces, Comic Book Resources reports.
Written by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, the new Legacy (no subtitle?) will star a “a young woman who is the great-granddaughter of original movie characters Han Solo and Leia Organa.” It’s set to release sometime in 2013 and will be an ongoing series, according to Dark Horse’s Randy Stradley.
Lucas: “I don’t really have much to do” as Episode VII consultant
Access Hollywood tracked down George Lucas at the Governor’s Awards this weekend. They didn’t get much out of him, but overall? “I don’t really have much to do,” he said. (Snarkily?)
When asked about Steven Spielberg – who’s already taken himself out of the running for director – Lucas said “I’m pretty sure he’d never want to do that!”
Of course, the fourth video from the conversation with Kathleen Kennedy is due this week… So who knows?
Reflections on Episode VII, blogging and the future of the Expanded Universe
So today is a month and a day since the announcement that Disney is buying Lucasfilm and making Episode VII. It’s been… A month. Don’t get me wrong: It’s been a great month, an occasionally frustrating but revitalizing month. A month to reevaluate. Continue reading “Reflections on Episode VII, blogging and the future of the Expanded Universe”
StarWars.com announces Rick McCallum’s retirement from Lucasfilm
The initial news of Rick McCallum’s retirement was announced fairly quietly, but now we have the the official word. Here’s what George Lucas had to say about his long-time colleague:
“We had hit the limit of production technology, and I needed someone with conviction and passion to help us into the digital realm,” says Lucas. “Rick became an evangelist for the endless possibilities digital technology offered filmmakers. Rick and I fought many battles side-by-side, constantly facing nay-sayers who were convinced we could never make the lasting changes in the movie business that we set out to make. I cannot be more proud of what Rick accomplished. We worked with over 60 companies and hundreds of amazing engineers and artists over a 10-year period to bring about overdue changes: now digital cameras routinely capture images, films are released digitally, and the entire production pipeline maintains unprecedented quality by being digital. As I go off to make my own experimental films — and I hope to be able to collaborate with Rick again on one of these projects — I wish him the best and look forward to seeing his new films.”
McCallum has relocated to Prague and is “now in development of a slate of smaller, independent films that more closely resemble the projects he was involved with prior to his association with Lucasfilm.”
Don’t miss the slideshow, which features a cameo from Pablo Hidalgo and perhaps the thickest laptop I have ever seen.
Report: Fincher, Favreau both want in on Episode VII
Buried at the end of a post on Hollywood types acting badly online, Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr. writes that both Jon Favreau (Iron Man) and David Fincher (The Social Network) are both interested in directing Episode VII.
Favreau “panting after this job” is anything but a suprise – it’s right in his wheelhouse and he’s already expressed excitement about the sequels, and having voiced a character on The Clone Wars probably won’t hurt his chances.
Fincher is a bit of a wild card – I didn’t know that he worked at Industrial Light & Magic in his early days (or that he directed Alien 3 – ouch) but I do know that his Girl with the Dragon Tattoo failed to ignite what many thought would be a promising film franchise. Still, he’s a director with plenty of respectable films (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , Se7en, Fight Club) and a pair of Oscar nominations under his belt.
Disney’s Alan Horn on Lucasfilm, Episode VII
Vulture caught up with Disney chairman Alan Horn last night and, naturally, asked him about Lucasfilm and Star Wars. He revealed how many people knew about Episode VII: “A very small group,” He dodged the Matthew Vaughn rumor, though he did say we should hear it “soon” and that the announcement has to come from Kathleen Kennedy.
“We take very seriously the obligation to make a very good movie,” he told Vulture. “Kathy is a very experienced producer; George Lucas is the godfather of that franchise and very, very involved on a consulting basis, so we feel very confident.”
EUbits: Vader’s Little Princess gets an adorable cover
Kids. Chronicle Books has revealed the cover for Vader’s Little Princess, Jeffrey Brown’s followup to Darth Vader and Son. In the spirit of the season, Chronicle is also offering printable holiday gift tags.
Vader’s Little Princess is due out in April.
Audio. The live performance of Kyle Newman’s Smuggler’s Gambit from Celebration VI is now available to download. The cast includes David Collins as Han Solo, plus Sam Witwer, Tom Kane, Ashley Eckstein, Matt Lanter, Dee Bradley Baker, Matthew Wood, Clare Grant, and Daniel Logan.
Short stories. Next Tuesday, Jedi News will have an exclusive excerpt of the Timothy Zahn eBook ‘Winner Lose All,’ which releases on the 10th.
Mappage. Jason Fry talks about keeping The Essential Atlas as a living book.
Interviews. EUCantina talks to Drew Karpyshyn.
Droids on film: The Clone Wars unleashes their ‘Secret Weapon’
The Clone Wars starts a new storyline – perhaps even a standalone episode? – with the droid-centric ‘Secret Weapons’ tomorrow morning. Head below the cut for a pair of preview clips. Continue reading “Droids on film: The Clone Wars unleashes their ‘Secret Weapon’”