Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Bleeding Cool reports that the 3-D conversion for The Phantom Menace is done and okayed by Lucasfilm. They talked to Matt Bristowe, Head of Production at Prime Focus, the company responsible for the conversion.
The new version of the film is set for release on February 10, 2012.
Director Anthony Hemingway tweeted a few days ago that Red Tails, the George Lucas-produced film about World War II’s Tuskegee Airmen “hits screens January 2012.” Meanwhile, it seems that Lucas himself may be in Prague to oversee the film’s score.
3-D on the wane? The New York Times says the pricey format is fizzling, which could spell bad news for next year’s Phantom Menace rerelease. Scalzi is more optimistic; Maybe Star Wars can be part of the solution here.
Good news, bad news. People checks in with Carrie Fisher’s Jenny Craig-powered weight loss. Spoiler: It’s going well! The news is less good for Hayden Christensen… His lawsuit over USA Network’s Royal Pains was thrown out by a federal judge.
Whatever happened to… Those kids who got suspended for the lightsaber fight? They did get to walk at their graduation and even got to complete their ‘fight’ at a senior assembly.
Fannishly. An interview with the Mike Litzenberg and Bridge Stuart, the guys behind ‘George Lucas Strikes Back.’
Lucasfilm has announced who’s handling the 3-D conversion: Prime Focus, a company that’s worked on Avatar, Shrek, Tron: Legacy and Sucker Punch. Check out the press release on StarWars.com.
The Phantom Menace will be the first out the gate in 3-D on February 10, 2012, with the other films following yearly.
The first of the 3-D converted Star Wars movies has been set for February 10, 2012. Expect it to beat the box office stuffing out of whatever Nicholas Cage schlockfest Hollywood chooses to inflict upon us this time next year.
Well, they’re finally going through with it: The saga will be coming to theaters in 3-D in 2012, starting with The Phantom Menace. Although May seems the obvious choice, LFL is not committing to any dates or even a season for TPM, let alone the other 5 films. “The process is really extensive, and we want to make sure each of the films gets the attention it needs,” Lucasfilm spokeswoman Lynne Hale told USA Today.
Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter claims “each of the films would be released in order at the same time each consecutive year, depending on how well the first re-release does.” Hrm.
MORNING (9/29) UPDATE: Variety delves deeper into the situation with the techies. Most notably, John Knoll says that no other visual effects will be tweaked or added.
With Avatar having beat out most of the top-grossing films of all time in a mere matter of weeks, the press is sniffing around those old rerelease rumors, digging up comments from various directors and basically? A big fat maybe. What else is new? The relevant bit:
George Lucas, the director, spent $13m filming the original in 1976, added special effects in 1997 and 2004, and will now spend another $10m to change it into a 3-D spectacular.
“George cannot leave it alone,” said an associate. “He is salivating at the opportunity to play with it again. This time the Death Star is really going to explode all over the audience and leave them gasping.”
At the moment there are only half a dozen companies that can turn reels of celluloid into 3-D digital movies.
An ‘associate.’ That’s cute.
So there’s a blog out there claiming that George is looking into making a sequel trilogy in 3-D because Cameron’s Avatar might make him – gasp – jealous. Sci Fi Wire has called bullshit, and I agree.
I mean, really: Avatar? Blogger, please.
So I guess the only question I have is… Why didn’t they do this back in 2001?!? (Waiting on better 3-D? Possible competition from Universal’s upcoming Harry Potter project?)
The DisneylandNews Twitter says: “Disney Parks is going to do things with “Star Tours” that have never been done before in theme park attractions.” I’m also hearing on Twitter that it won’t JUST be pod racing, but not from any of the official sources yet. The OC Register blog is now reporting:
In a press conference after the presentation, Rasulo said new destinations, like the one shown, would be part of the new Star Tours. Rasulo said the ride would undergo physical changes, but the simulator carriages would remain. Riders will don 3D glasses for the new experience.
ETA: More on StarWars.com and video of the presentation.
Not so shiny. Catherine Hardwicke is out of Twilight sequel. (Robert Pattinson’s envy must be at least twice the size of glitter budget.)
Of course, the real interest for many of us is the book’s numerous creepy undertones. And finally, for funny Twilight news, aka the actual reason to bother reporting any of it, check out the puppet version.