By: Jerry Beck,
on 10/14/2016
Mark Dippé and Steve ‘Spaz’ Williams, who created groundbreaking vfx work on "Jurassic Park," "T2," and "The Abyss," talk about what's different about the vfx industry today.
The post ILM’s Rebel ‘Jurassic Park’ Artists Reflect On The State of VFX Art Today appeared first on Cartoon Brew.
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By: Kenneth Kit Lamug,
on 4/18/2016
Star Wars The Adventures of Luke Skywalker (picture book) is a great way of introducing the young ones to the first part of the Star Wars…
The post Star Wars The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight Art Book Review appeared first on RABBLEBOY - The Official Blog of Kenneth Kit Lamug.
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 4/17/2016
Dreamworks Animation CEO recently said his company is "in the toilet," but he seems to be doing fine himself.
The post Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg Spent $353,000 On Dinner Yesterday appeared first on Cartoon Brew.
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By: Shannon Hazard,
on 12/26/2015
For some time now, I have been among those who have argued that the fandom associated with the Star Wars franchise is akin to a religion. There are those who will quarrel with the word choice, but it is hard to gainsay the dedication of fans to the original films
The post Mythology redux: The Force Awakens once again appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Jerry Beck,
on 12/4/2015
How deep does the conspiracy against animation artists go?
The post Lawsuit Alleges Disney’s Board of Directors Knew About Artist Wage-Fixing Conspiracy appeared first on Cartoon Brew.
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By: Maryann Yin,
on 11/25/2015
Cass Sunstein, a Harvard professor, has signed a deal with the HarperCollins imprint, Dey Street Books. Sunstein plans to write a book entitled The World According to Star Wars.
According to the press release, this book will feature “an exploration of George Lucas’s masterpiece as it relates to the arc of history, rebellions, politics, law, economics, fatherhood, and culture. Sunstein will demonstrate that the Star Wars series is all about serendipity and freedom — about the clouded nature of the future, the dismal failures of plans, and the inevitability, in our lives and our society, of ‘I am your father’ moments, which cast a new light on everything that has gone before.”
Julia Cheiffetz, an executive editor, negotiated the deal with Sarah Chalfant of the Wylie Agency. The publisher will release the book in May 2016.
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 8/24/2015
A judge rule that animation artists can continue a case against studios which allegedly suppressed wages for decades through fraud.
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 7/12/2015
George Lucas's groundbreaking visual effects company is celebrated in a new one-hour special on the Science Channel
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By: Carolyn Napolitano,
on 5/4/2015
May the Fourth be with you! Playing off a pun on one of the movie’s most famous quotes, May the 4th is the unofficial holiday in which Star Wars fans across the globe celebrate the beloved blockbuster series. The original Star Wars movie, now known as Star Wars IV: A New Hope, was released on 25 May 1977, but to those of us who waited in line after line to see it again and again in theaters, it will always be just Star Wars.
The post May the Fourth be with you! appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 3/12/2015
§ Hall of fame artist Bernie Wrightson has had a bunch of recent health setbacks, and now what appears to be a cancerous brain tumor. However the prognosis is excellent and he hopes to make upcoming con appearances. Best wishes to Wrightson for a full recovery.
George Lucas stopped by Midtown Comics today! #StarWars pic.twitter.com/zSBVD1Mf7Z
— Midtown Comics (@MidtownComics) March 9, 2015
§ This story about George Lucas stopping by Midtown Comics in NYC to pick up a few of the new Star Wars comics is pretty adorable. You’d think that somewhere in Lucas’s giant mail bin the comics may have been sent out as a courtesy, but Marvel is very stingy with comps. Equally adorable: Lucas also purchased a copy of Heavy Metal. We never really outgrow our 12 year old selves no matter how we try.
§ Say, what’s up with that “Museum of Narrative Art” that Lucas is planning to open?
§ Speaking of Marvel, they will soon be offering a line of small appliances with waffle makers, kettles and more. This is their first foray into this area of hosuewares. Disney’s Consumer Products division is running this show, but it does bring up a question I often ponder when looking at licensed superhero goods—which version to use? Animated characters are ideal for any product because they have been designed to a T and have rigid style guides. With Marvel and DC there are so many versions. While I see a lot of the current Bryan Hitch-y Marvel look on licensed items, just as often its the throwback John Romita-era version. The version shown on the above toaster mock-up is actually a Disneyfied style developed for some kids books they published. I think. What do you all think? Which Hulk on a toaster would you prefer?
On a more serious note, I’ve been hoping to purchase an immersion blender soon, so I hope Marvel makes one of those.
§ I keep forgetting to mention that the Baltimore Sun’s cartoonist KAL won this year’s Herblock Prize. That is a big prize and deserves more than this little notice.
§ Here’s a must read: Ward Sutton interviews Warren Bernard and Bill Kartalopoulos about the amazing exhibit of Alt-Weekly Comics that they curated whish is now on display at the Society of Illustrators. This is a groundbreaking, once in a lifetime show that deserves a lot of attention. Bill K:
The audience for alt-weeklies was broader than the self-selected countercultural audience for underground comix. Some of these papers even received negative letters about certain comics, and that’s kind of thrilling! On the internet, everyone can curate their own reading experience and every audience becomes self-selecting by default. That’s democratic and great, but there’s also something really stirring about an editor or an art director standing behind a contentious comic strip running in a paper that’s engaged in a dialogue with a local community. These papers had physical presence: in newspaper boxes, at coffee shops, etc. In retrospect, that physical dimension seems valuable. As culture moves increasingly online, it seems that only advertisers have retained the power to broadcast messages into our physical environments. And of course that move online has also disrupted the advertising-based economic model that allowed the alt-weeklies to play host to such a rich pool of talent. Unfortunately for artists, while online publication brings with it a potentially large audience, the economic model has not been as reliably functional.
§ Christies is having a sick comics art auction with Bilal, Edgar P. Jacobs (Above), Uderzo and more. You can probably spend a LOT of time clicking around on the above link.
§ MEANWHILE, Sotheby’s the other auction house, just held a sale of comics art that netted around $4 million. Paul Gravett discusses just what that means for anyone hoping to run a comic art museum. Unless you’re George Lucas.
§ Here is a nice interview with romance comics historian Jacque Nodell, conducted by Ginnis Tonik. Lots of insight here and more on Nodell’s blog Sequential Crush.
§ I guess that Yebeos for Yanquis is a blog tumblr focusing on Spanish comics. And it kicks off with Twenty-Five Good Spanish Comics from the 2010s—a few of cartoonists spotlighted are known here—David Rubin, Max and Paco Roca—but most remain to be explored. The Spanish comic scene has blossomed quite a bit in the last decade or so, so more excitement. More comics!
§ Jackie Estrada has a nice look back at Friends of Lulu in the 90s at the Geek Girl Project.
§ Speaking of Estrada, her Comic Book People book has been funded but you have only 24 hours to get a copy. Go!
§ Webcomicker Jeph Jacques is best known for his comic Questionable Content. But he also has a Dadaist side, as revealed by his launching a site with the address walmart.horse. This move displeased Walmart, which filed a sternly word cease and desist, though the site contains only the above photo of a horse and a Walmart and not aisles and aisles of shopworn children’s rattles, vats of pickles and black polyester hoodies,
§ Headline of the day: “Incest and country dancing” cartoon causes outrage.”
§ A site called Memeburn got very excited about this comic set in Lagos, and it does look good.
We don’t often feature graphic novels on Memeburn, but we reckon this one deserves a special mention. It’s called EXO: The Legend of Wale Williams and one of the things that sets it apart is the fact that it’s set in a futuristic Nigeria. Created by Nigerian-born Roye Okupe, the graphic novel takes place in the year 2025 and follows Wale (Pronounced Wah-Leh) Williams as he returns to Nigeria after a five-year absence. Drawn back to the country by his father’s mysterious disappearance, Wiliams inherits a suit which grants him superhuman abilities.
§ Although the practice of selling Marvel’s digital download codes has traditionally been one that is not frowned on, Ebay has been removing these listings for some reason, and one man, hoping for justice, is trying to find out why.
§ A very interesting ComiConference was held at the Central Michigan University recently.
The third ever ComiConference on CMU’s campus brought several speakers to the Charles V. Park Library auditorium to speak to more than 300 guests. The speakers included Carol Tilley, Amanda Garrison, Gene Luen Yang, Lee Francis and Laura Jimenez. The event was organized by English professor Joseph Michael Sommers, with some assistance with the CMU Program Board. Sommers said the conference started three years ago as a way to showcase his students’ work. “It was more of an academic conference on comic books,” Sommers said. “The first year was just CMU students, the next year we opened it up to everyone. This year was more of a ‘ComiCon’ presentation where we had big hitters from academics come in and talk to students and faculty.”
§ I thought that internet culture had peaked, but now they’ve made a video of Earl Sinclair, the dad in the 90s sitcom Dinosaur, singing the Notorious B.I.G.’s Hypnotize and now I realize that life has many more wonders to offer, so we shall continue down this road, you and I.
By: Jerry Beck,
on 2/25/2015
Warner Archive will release John Korty's cult 1983 feature "Twice Upon A Time" onto home video this spring.
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By: Deborah Jensen,
on 12/5/2014
Celebrating its 85th anniversary, Bloomberg Businessweek announced its take on “The 85 Most Disruptive Ideas in Our History.” The focus of its current issue and noted at a party that drew George Lucas, Henry Kissinger, Harvey Weinstein, Mort Zuckerman, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Martha Stewart, and MSNBC host Ronan Farrow, the impactful and eclectic mix from the past 85 years lists concepts and inventions that have changed the way we live and conduct business, including: TV, e-mail, Starbucks, Napster, gay marriage, perestroika, refrigeration, junk bonds, the Pill, Air Jordans, billable hours, the jet engine, and a book.
Making the cut and clocking in at #58 on the #Businessweek85 is The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen, who coined the now-ubiquitous term “disruptive innovation” in his book about why well-managed companies often fail.
Writing about its central theme, he told Businessweek:
“I decided to study the disk-drive industry on a tip from one of my faculty members, who said he knew nothing except that successful disk-drive companies had failed over and over again. They were the fruit flies of business: At the time, I was living essentially in the Motel 6 on First Street in San Jose. It was about 7 o’clock one night, and I had gone across the street to have dinner at McDonald’s. And I was going back to Motel 6, and in the middle of the street it just fell into place—and I realized why the low end wins so frequently.
“This phenomenon that I call disruption is one that allows a larger population, people who historically didn’t have enough money to buy a product, to afford something like it. That creates growth. The puzzle was, if this is what creates growth, why don’t the leaders in the industry go after it? I realized that every company has a business model, and they can invest in things that help them make money in the way their business model is structured. If innovation doesn’t allow them to make more money in the way they’re structured to make money, they can’t do it. It had nothing to do with technological change. Once I had that, I could see it happen everywhere. That was the real epiphany.”
Nice to see the power of the written word holding its own.
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By: Maryann Yin,
on 11/26/2014
Hollywood has been chasing after popular books for inspiration. Titles such as the Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games trilogy, and The Fault in our Stars novel have been transformed into blockbluster film franchises.
At this point in time, a diverse array of adaptation projects are being developed for YouTube, Hulu, and the silver screen. In recognition of book creators, The Hollywood Reporter has crafted a list of “Hollywood’s 25 Most Powerful Authors.”
J.K. Rowling claimed the number one spot because arguably speaking, “no single creator has had so much influence on a megafranchise since George Lucas and the original Star Wars trilogy.” We’ve posted the list of the top 10 authors below—what do you think?
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 11/21/2014
There are bad trailers, and then there's this incomprehensible thing promoting "Strange Magic," an animated feature that feels like Blue Sky's "Epic" produced by the people who made "Delgo."
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 11/11/2014
Disney-owned Lucasfilm dropped a bombshell on the film world this morning: "Strange Magic," a new previously-unannounced animated feature based on a story by George Lucas, will be released into theaters by Disney's Touchstone Pictures label on January 23, 2015.
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 7/8/2014
Tech site Pando Daily has been providing amazing coverage of the Department of Justice antitrust invesigation and subsequent class action lawsuits over wage-fixing amongst Silicon Valley tech companies and animation studios.
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By: Mark Miller,
on 5/20/2014
Well, Episdoe VII is officially under way. Principal cast has been announced and shooting has started. As a life-long fan, I have much confidence in JJ. Contrary to many, I totally enjoyed what he did with Star Trek and thought Into Darkness was better than his first one. To me, it seems Mr. Abrams is a fan first and a businessman second. I hope that he makes my beloved universe his own, acknowledges the fans and makes something not only for kids, but also those of us who never really grew up.
By: Jerry Beck,
on 3/9/2013
George Lucas’s next big project is thrilling: a museum dedicated to the popular arts such as illustration, comics, film design and animation. According to an interview with CBS, he initially plans to rotate his personal art collection which numbers thousands of pieces, and includes works by Maxfield Parrish, N. C. Wyeth, and Norman Rockwell.
Lucas hints that he’s looking to base the museum, the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum, in San Francisco’s Presidio Park, which is not only where ILM is located, but also the site of Diane Disney Miller’s fantastic Walt Disney Family Museum. [UPDATE: Brew reader 'Bell' notes that Lucas has already confirmed he is eying the Presidio. Lucas submitted a concept proposal—he is one of sixteen contenders—for an empty site at the Presidio earlier this month. You can download the entire 30-page Lucas Cultural Arts Museum proposal in PDF form (4.2MB). Wonderful stuff.]
This is the part of Lucas’s interview that gets me really excited:
“This museum, if anything, is a dedication to cultural fantasy. How do you design enviornments? How do you design sets? How do you design characters? How do you design costumes? Part of the museum is designed to educate younger people into the idea of storytelling, into the idea of being able to paint your fantasies, which is what Star Wars was. Star Wars was there to inspire young people to imagine things, to imagine going anywhere in the universe and doing anything you want to do and using your imagination to entertain yourself.”
It appears that Lucas may finally be creating the high-profile popular art museum that America sorely lacks. Last night, I attended the opening of the Harvey Kurtzman retrospective at the Society of Illustrators—a must-see show by the way—and was shocked to realize that even an artist as vastly influential as Kurtzman has never been the subject of an exhibit at a major American art museum. Gilbert Seldes argued nearly 90 years ago in his book The Seven Lively Arts that comics and film are deserving of the same criticism and acknowledgement as more established arts, but museums have been abysmally slow in recognizing illustration, film production design and animation as legitimate art forms. Thankfully, we have George Lucas on our side now.
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 3/7/2013
Good long-read in Businessweek about how Disney bought the Star Wars franchise and Lucasfilm. The article is short on major revelations, but contains some cute stories, like an overview of the meeting in which Disney CEO Robert Iger first asked George Lucas if he’d be interested in selling Lucasfilm:
Add a CommentIn May 2011, Iger flew to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida for the opening of Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, an upgraded Star Wars ride offering patrons the illusion of traveling through space to visit planets like Tatooine. Lucas was deeply involved in the attraction, personally reviewing its progress every two weeks for several years.
On the morning of the Star Tours opening, Iger met Lucas for breakfast at the Hollywood Brown Derby, one of Disney World’s restaurants. It was closed for the occasion so the two men could speak freely. Fresh from his daily workout, Iger ordered a yogurt parfait. Lucas treated himself to one of the Brown Derby’s larger omelets. The two exchanged pleasantries. Then Iger inquired whether Lucas would ever consider selling his company. Lucas replied that he’d recently celebrated his 67th birthday and was starting to think seriously about retiring. So perhaps the sale of his company was inevitable. “I’m not ready to pursue that now,” he told Iger. “But when I am, I’d love to talk.”
By: Candy Gourlay,
on 1/24/2013
By Candy Gourlay First, let us all take a moment to gaze upon Harrison Ford in his prime. I've been watching a lot of Making Of videos recently and was struck by director Steven Spielberg's negativity when discussing MY favourite Indiana Jones film, The Temple of Doom. I loved that film, but googling around I discovered long discourses about how it was too dark and interviews with
By: Jerry Beck,
on 11/2/2012
Disney’s $4.05 billion acquisition of Lucasfilm has generated more questions than answers. The Mouse has made it clear that they bought Lucasfilm for one thing, and one thing only: the Star Wars property.
But Lucasfilm’s business also includes other components such as Skywalker Sound and the visual effects studio Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). The fate of these entities remains unknown and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future.
For example, what to make of ILM’s promising start as a producer of animated features? Don’t forget that ILM’s first original film Rango won an Oscar earlier this year for Best Animated Feature. But Disney already owns its own feature animation studio as well as Pixar. It hardly needs a third studio, especially one that offers an original take on computer animation that could make the work of its other studios look formulaic by comparison. In other words, it’s a likely bet that ILM won’t be making any more animated features of its own.
However, ILM will likely continue creating the visual effects for the Star Wars films that Disney plans to start releasing in 2015. According to Variety:
On the Star Wars movies, Lucasfilm has long relied on having the resources of ILM inhouse to control vfx costs. A Lucasfilm spokesman said [Kathleen] Kennedy will continue to have autonomy to use ILM on future Star Wars films. However, that doesn’t guarantee that all work will be done in San Francisco. ILM has offices in Singapore and Vancouver and has alliances with companies in Beijing and Europe. It will continue to leverage those alliances and offshore locations to keep costs down.
And what about the visual effects work that ILM creates for other studio’s films? In his initial statements, Disney chairman-CEO Robert Iger gave a less than ringing endorsement of ILM’s business model.
The LA Times quoted Iger saying, “Our current thinking is that we would let it remain as is. They do great work. They do work for multiple studios. It’s been a decent business for Lucasfilm and one we have every intention of staying in.” The emphasis on the words ‘current’ and ‘decent’ are mine, and it’s not too difficult to read between the lines, especially when the NY Times added that Iger wants to “reap the value” it can from ILM.
History is not on ILM’s side either. In 1996, Disney acquired another respected visual effects studio DreamQuest. It merged it with its own in-house computer animation department and renamed it The Secret Lab. The Lab’s most notable effort was the feature film Dinoasur before the division was shuttered in 2002. It will be tougher to dismantle ILM, but there’s a good chance that Disney will explore some type of reorganization/merger/consolidation/sale of the studio in the coming years.
The same questions exist to a lesser degree for Lucasfilm’s storied gaming division, LucasArts. That division has struggled in recent years, as the LA Times reported:
LucasArts is currently operating without a permanent president and has not made a new game since 2010′s poorly received “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II.” This year it announced a new title in the works, “Star Wars: 1313,” but because that game is intended to carry dark themes and be rated M (the video game equivalent of R), it may not fit into Disney’s intent to position “Star Wars” as a family entertainment brand.
Despite its recent missteps, LucasArts (and now Disney) owns a back catalog of beloved gaming classics like The Secret of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Full Throttle and Maniac Mansion. It’s hard to imagine what Disney will do with those titles, though Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert tweeted a tongue-in-cheek suggestion earlier this week:
Finally, the question that many are asking is how George Lucas will spend his newly earned wealth. Lucas, who was already a billionaire before the sale, is now officially the wealthiest artist in the United States. Because he owned 100 percent of Lucasfilm, he will receive the entire $4 billion himself, roughly half in cash and the rest in Disney stock, turning him into Disney’s second-largest non-institutional shareholder with approximately 2.2% of the company.
It might be expected that Lucas would spend his money on silly douchebag toys—Lucas has reportedly spent millions on picture frames for his vintage European movie poster collection—but instead he plans to do something far more worthwhile with the bulk of his cash: philanthropy.
Education is a passion for Lucas, and he made a pledge in 2010 to dedicate the “majority of my wealth to improving education.” After this week’s sale to Disney, Lucas reiterated that goal. “As I start a new chapter in my life,” he said, “it is gratifying that I have the opportunity to devote more time and resources to philanthropy.” If he ends up following through on the pledge, this may end up being one of the few corporate mergers that has a happy ending after all.
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By: Jason Boog,
on 10/30/2012
Disney will acquire Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion, promising to bring Star Wars Episode 7 in 2015 (“with more feature films expected”) as it takes control of the science fiction franchise.
Disney paid $4 billion for Marvel Comics in 2009. Lucasfilm co-chair Kathleen Kennedy will be the new president of Lucasfilm, working with Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn.
Lucasfilm CEO George Lucas had this statement: ”For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next … It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. I’m confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come.”
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By: Maryann Yin,
on 11/4/2010
Journalist Jonathan Franklin has sold 33 Men to Penguin’s Putnam & Sons imprint. The manuscript chronicles the rescue of 33 miners after the Chilean mining disaster earlier this year.
The video embedded above shows a BBC news report about the rescue. Franklin carried a “Rescue Team” pass which allowed him to close access to the rescue effort. The book will contain material from 75 interviews Franklin conducted, including victims.
Editorial director Marysue Rucci acquired the book and Inkwell Management literary agent George Lucas negotiated the deal. The deal included North American hardcover and paperback rights, as well as eBook and audiobook rights.
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By: Maryann Yin,
on 10/14/2010
Guardian journalist Jonathan Franklin and New York Times journalist Alexei Barrionuevo are both hoping to write about the 33 miners rescued in Chile yesterday. The BBC report embedded above covers the rescue efforts.
Crain’s New York reports that Franklin has already sold his proposal to several European houses, including the British publisher, Transworld. 33 Men, Buried Alive: The Inside Story of the Trapped Chilean Miners is scheduled for release early next year. George Lucas of Inkwell Management represents Franklin in New York.
Barrionuevo has not yet submitted a proposal, but is represented by Esther Newberg of ICM. According to the article, his book will “cover the aftermath of the rescue and the complications that arise as the miners deal with being international heroes.”
Here’s more from the article: “The concern among publishers is that the public will get enough of the heart-stirring story from all of the news accounts and won’t have any need of a book. ‘We’re wondering how much the immediate coverage will chew up the story,’ said one editor who was considering 33 Men. Despite those concerns, some publishing executives feel that the miners’ story is dramatic and compelling enough to warrant a book.”
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 9/25/2010
Great weekend read: Michael Heilemann explores how George Lucas created Chewbacca, or rather how he…um…borrowed…it from somebody else. Valuable insights into the creative process apply to all the arts, but are particularly applicable to filmmaking, in which the final product is formed by the hands of many, influences come from all over, and authorship is often opaque:
Chewbacca didn’t spring to life out of nowhere, fully formed when Lucas saw his dog in the passenger seat of his car. That’s the soundbite. A single step. The reality is complex and human. From vague names floating around, the kernel of an idea, changing purposes and roles of characters, major restructuring, the design hopping from person to person, scrapping the existing concept and going down a different path, seeing existing things in a different light and having to conform a range of ideas to complement and enrich one another.
(via Kottke)
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George Lucas was a co-owner of the first comics shop in Manhattan, Super Snipe.
There must be an Iron Man iron. Otherwise they might as well stop.
Who is the George Foreman of the MU? DCU is obviously Ted (Wildcat) Grant, but I’m not sure which semi-retired Marvel hero would be producing infomercials for mini-grills.
Ben Grimm, maybe? I’d buy a grill from him.