Archive for ‘Movie News’



Rocketeer Creator Dave Stevens Dies

March 13, 2008

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Variety.com recently reported the passing of Dave Stevens, creator of The Rocketeer, who died from complications from leukemia on March 10.

Many fans might be familiar with The Rocketeer from the film adaptation directed by post-ILMer Joe Johnston in 1991. The film was based on the successful comic series created by Stevens, first published in 1982. A little-known fact to many Indiana Jones fans is that Stevens had actually done some storyboard work on Raiders:

After leaving Hanna-Barbera, Stevens joined his friends, illustrator and film designer William Stout and science fiction paperback cover illustrator Richard Hescox, becoming a member of their art studio on La Brea Ave. in Los Angeles.

Stout also shared offices with Steven Spielberg at the time. On Stout’s recommendation, Stevens was hired to storyboard the harrowing truck fight sequence for Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In addition to the truck fight sequence, Stevens also drafted the boards for a famous lost Shanghai scene from Raiders which was later repurposed for Temple of Doom.

In the early days of Star Wars, Stevens contributed to the Los Angeles Times Syndicated Star Wars strip originally started by Russ Manning. He, along with Rick Hoberg, pinch hit for Manning during the “Frozen World of Ota” story-arc in 1980.

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Stevens also illustrated an image of Luke Skywalker for the first Topps Star Wars Galaxy card set.

Read the full Variety article here.

Johnston to Direct Wolfman

February 4, 2008

Word out of Variety this weekend is that Star Wars-alum Joe Johnston has been picked to replace Mark Romanek as director of the forthcoming Wolfman, slated for a 2009 release from Universal. Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt will star.

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Star Wars fans should know Johnston as one of the key concept designers for the original Star Wars trilogy, serving as Visual Effects Art Director at Industrial Light & Magic for the three films and other classics such as Raiders of the Lost Ark. Among his often cited Star Wars creds is the development of Boba Fett. Lesser known, for some reason, is his Adventures of Teebo storybook.

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He’s also directed Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Jumanji, Hidalgo, October Skies, and the Princeton episode of The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.

Drew and Christian Struzan Unveil 80th Oscar Poster

January 16, 2008

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Oscars.org reports today that Drew Struzan, creator of countless illustrations gracing both Star Wars and Indiana Jones posters and products, has teamed up with son Christian to devise the stunning artwork for the 80th Annual Academy Awards poster. Here’s more from the site:

The official poster of the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences’ 80th Academy Awards® features the iconic Oscar glowing among bright lights against a black background.

Capturing the allure and excitement of the Oscars®, the design was originally conceived by legendary motion picture poster illustrator Drew Struzan and executed by his son, Christian.

It appears the poster itself is available for pre-order from the site so if you’re a fan of Struzan’s work, this will definitely be one you’ll want to pick up!

Read more about it here!

George Lucas Q&A at Vanity Fair

January 2, 2008

The latest issue of Vanity Fair has a cover feature devoted to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, with photography by Annie Leibovitz and interviews with George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford. Of interest to Star Wars fans, of course, is the Lucas interview, which touches on the saga several times. Here’s an excerpt:

People who are over 40 love [Episodes] IV, V, and VI and hate I, II, and III. Younger people like I, II, and III and don’t like IV, V, and VI, or they like I, II, and III better and think IV, V, and VI are kind of boring and slow. And of course the older people say, “Oh, I, II, and III—it’s too jittery, too fast, too complicated, it’s too digital,” or whatever they want to say. But definitely one generation has grabbed hold of one of them, and the other generation has grabbed hold of the next one. One of the key characters that helped us realize what was going on was Jar Jar Binks, because the kids that are under 10 years old, he’s one of their favorite characters. For people over 40, they cannot stand him—it’s a hate thing. You know, they’ve always been for 12-year-olds, and that’s never changed. People don’t want to think of it that way. They want to think those films are for grown-ups. Even though they were 10 years old when they saw it, it’s still very important to them, so, for them, it’s a grown-up movie, as opposed to a kids’ movie. The pre–Jar Jar Binks was 3PO. Everybody hated 3PO. I mean, it was like they couldn’t stand him. It really had to do with his character. They don’t like his character, and they don’t like Jar Jar Binks—but they’re not designed to be likeable characters.

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For the complete Lucas Q&A, read it online here. The Vanity Fair issue is on newsstands now.

Indy Teaser Poster Now Online

December 10, 2007

Indianajones.com, the official Indiana Jones website, has posted the teaser poster for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

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Indy rides again on May 22. For more updates as we count down to the big day, keep checking Indianajones.com.

You can also buy the teaser poster here.

Indy Theft Recalls Star Wars Incident in ‘77

October 4, 2007

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Unless you’re living in a Chachapoyan cave you’ve probably heard that a bunch of production materials — photos, computers, etc. — from the new Indy movie were stolen recently. While this story seems to be wrapping up with the apparent apprehension of a suspect, it does recall a similar incident that occurred back in 1977 before Star Wars was released.

During Easter weekend (April 9-10) in 1977, someone broke into publicist Charles Lippincott’s Star Wars Corp. office on the Universal Studios lot and allegedly stole hundreds of Star Wars transparencies and framed reproductions of Ralph McQuarrie’s concept artwork for the movie. On that same weekend, there was a break-in at Industrial Light & Magic’s Van Nuys studio where at least one model was stolen (reports vary on the actual number taken).

Unlike the recent Indy incident, the Star Wars merchandise was never fully-recovered, although some transparencies did turn up at a convention later that year. Like Indy, the FBI got involved, but no resolution was ever reported – giving this mystery a persistent allure among fans in-the-know.

Fog City Mavericks Debuts on STARZ

September 24, 2007

Directed by Gary Leva, Fog City Mavericks explores and celebrates filmmaking in the San Francisco Bay Area with features on the iconoclastic filmmakers George Lucas, Brad Bird, Bruce Conner, Carroll Ballard, Chris Columbus, Clint Eastwood, Francis Ford Coppola, John Korty, John Lasseter, Phil Kaufman, Walter Murch, Sofia Coppola and Saul Zaentz.

Read more about Fog City Mavericks airing Sept. 24 on STARZ here.

Also watch this short clip on of George Lucas, Saul Zaentz, Robin Williams and John Lasseter who joined other celebrated local moviemakers at the Castro Theater Sunday, April 29, 2007 for the world premiere of Fog City Mavericks:

VIDEO: Film Festival Tribute to Maverick S.F. Filmmakers
(reporting from SFgate.com)

Star Trek XI News Roundup

August 20, 2007

We know how much you love Star Wars, but for those of you whose fandom crosses over into that other galaxy inhabited by Klingons, Vulcans and Tribbles, here’s the latest news, industry gossip and information about the next Star Trek film from director J.J. Abrams.

Check out this roundup of articles and sites to catch you to to lightspeed on the upcoming Star Trek film:

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SOURCES:
Club Jade, StarTrek.com, USA Today, IGN, Memory Alpha Wiki, The Trek Movie Report