my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » Film-Yak   » New Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon getting Aug. 15 WB theatrical release (Page 1)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Author Topic: New Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon getting Aug. 15 WB theatrical release Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-12-2008 06:27 PM                        From today's IMDB: Lucasfilm plans to introduce its upcoming animated TV series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars with a 90-minute 3-D theatrical version on August 15, the company said Monday. Somewhat surprisingly, the film will be released by Warner Bros. rather than 20th Century Fox, which released all of the previous Star Wars features. The TV series, however, will air on the Cartoon Network, a corporate sibling of Warner Bros. In a statement, Warner distribution chief Dan Fellman said, "This is a breakthrough project, returning Star Wars to the big screen in a completely new way while beginning an exciting new chapter in George Lucas's legendary saga. We immediately felt that it would be a fantastic theatrical event and are thrilled to be bringing it to moviegoers."  |  IP: Logged Mike Schindler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1039 From: Oak Park, IL, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 02-12-2008 07:36 PM                     Nothing else I've read, including the story on starwars.com indicates that this will be in 3D. I'm thinking that's an error on the imdb's part.  |  IP: Logged James Westbrook Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1133 From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa Registered: Mar 2006 posted 02-13-2008 02:13 AM                     Cartoon Network had been running a "2-D" animated Star Wars series a year or so back...  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-13-2008 03:39 PM                        Here's a blog entry from the Orlando Sentinel website's movies blog. It's animated, to set up a next generation animated TV series that will be on Cartoon Network and later TNT. I say next generation because, well, they've gone this route before with some quasi-Japanese looking animation. This looks to be more Beowulf-like, if not in 3D, with or without motion capture. I rather liked the last animated Star Wars 2D traditionally animated thing on Cartoon network (2003), though it was mighty thin on story. I fully expect this big screen event to be something less than the hype. And there will be hype. Guessing that the big screen release is merely an afterthought and a stunt. Can they convert it to 3D? Thirty new episodes of this, to follow the movie. Look at the listed voice cast. They have Anakin but no Hayden Christensen? Probably a good move. His voice is the least interesting thing about him. Distinct, but nasal and flat. Hmm. Whether it's a "stunt" or not, it'd be nice to have a guaranteed crowd-generator in August. Will this be traditional hand-drawn animation? Or is it computer-animated? IF the latter, maybe that's where IMDB got the "3D" from.  |  IP: Logged Mike Schindler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1039 From: Oak Park, IL, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 02-13-2008 04:54 PM                     It's CGI. There's a trailer and some behind the scenes stuff over at starwars.com. I really liked the last series, and I'm excited about this one too. There's a whole new creative team, which includes a lot of TV people, obviously. I've heard rumors that Kevin Rubio, who created the classic fan-film TROOPS is on the writing staff, and Bruce Timm, who is responsible for BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES is one of the directors.  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-15-2008 09:24 AM                     It'll be 3D for sure...can you say Hannah Montana opening week gross?  |  IP: Logged Mike Olpin Chop Chop! Posts: 1852 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Jan 2002 posted 02-15-2008 11:50 PM                     The trailer... http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=10894856  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-16-2008 09:27 AM                        Outside of the human faces, it looks a lot like the last 3 movies. Instead of the TV show, Lucas should just start making a SW cartoon every 2 or 3 years. With TV, it'll be in and out in 2 or 3 seasons.  |  IP: Logged Mike Schindler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1039 From: Oak Park, IL, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 02-16-2008 02:41 PM                     It looks like he's headed in the opposite direction. Work has already begun on the live-action Star Wars TV series, which apparently will focus on Boba Fett. After a year, he hopes to spin-off another series, and then do another one after that, so eventually there will be 3 or 4 series going on simultaneously. I went to the big Star Wars convention in LA last year, and the CLONE WARS director, Dave Filoni, was there to unveil the show. He said that the tone they're aiming for is that of the original movie. They want it to be fun and adventurous with a sense of humor. He's also a huge Star Wars geek, having read all the books and stuff. There was this great story that he told, about a meeting he had with Lucas, where Lucas said something like, "And then Kit Fisto can come in and do such and such." Filoni said, "No, that won't work, because at that point in time, according to issue #2 of the comic, Kit Fisto is being held captive by the evil Gungans on Endor (or whatever)." Lucas' response was. "Come on now, Dave. Are you gonna take this seriously, or not?"  |  IP: Logged John Walsh Film God Posts: 2490 From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way Registered: Oct 1999 posted 03-15-2008 06:03 AM                     I swear, every time I read about Lucas, it seems that making movies is only to make money. Do any of his quotes in this article imply the desire to make a good, interesting movies? Copyright 2008 The Associated Press - LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- Fans never seem to get their fill of "Star Wars," and George Lucas is happy to oblige. Lucas offered a glimpse into the latest creation in his sci-fi universe at the theater-owners convention ShoWest on Thursday, showing a sequence from "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," a computer-animated movie due in theaters August 15. It will be followed by a TV series of the same name, to air on the Cartoon Network and TNT this fall. The movie came about as an afterthought while Lucas was developing an animated TV show of the same name. That show debuts this fall, but Lucas figured it was ripe for big-screen treatment, too. "You've got the whole assembly line built, and then you say, 'Hey, we can make up something,"' Lucas said in an interview. "It was like old-time movie making. What I love about television, it's like Monogram Pictures or the old studio system, where a couple guys come to work and they sit and have some coffee and go, 'Why don't we make a movie about such and such? OK, fine.' And at the end of the day, it's pretty much on its way." Set in the years between episodes II and III -- "Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith" -- of the big-screen "Star Wars" chronicle, the movie and series present fresh adventures of Jedi warrior Anakin Skywalker, his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and other colleagues. The movie introduces a female Jedi, Ahsoki, who is Anakin's young apprentice. "It's like 'Band of Brothers' in space, with Jedi," Lucas, 63, said. "You can tell lots of stories. They come up all the time." Lucas said he plans to produce at least 100 hours worth of TV episodes of "Clone Wars." He also is moving forward with a live-action "Star Wars" TV show focusing largely on new characters removed from the Skywalker family. That show will be set in the decades between "Revenge of the Sith" and the period when the original film, 1977's "Star Wars," takes place. So can fans ever get enough of "Star Wars"? "I don't know," Lucas said. "I'm thankful every year that it keeps going."  |  IP: Logged Mike Schindler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1039 From: Oak Park, IL, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 03-15-2008 08:31 AM                     To counter that, I read another quote from Lucas yesterday where he said that he's producing RED TAILS right now, which is a movie about the Tuskegee Airmen. He said that after that, the only movies he'll make will be movies he directs, and they will all be esoteric art house pictures which play on one or two screens for a week. That sounds very interesting.  |  IP: Logged Greg Anderson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 766 From: Ogden Valley, Utah Registered: Nov 1999 posted 03-15-2008 09:46 AM                        And what's wrong with making money? Especially when his only source of income is voluntarily given by fans. What are you really saying? "Hey... don't use the resources you have." or "Don't be productive" or "Your company is becoming too efficient" or "Don't hire people and give them work to do." An honest man can get rich following a very simple formula: Just produce the good and/or service that people want to buy. A lot of other filmmakers in Lucas' position would have quit a long time ago. It's too bad so many of us think there's something wrong with his character. quote: John Walsh Do any of his quotes in this article imply the desire to make a good, interesting movies? Yes! All of them!  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-15-2008 10:09 AM                     quote: Greg Anderson And what's wrong with making money? I think the nature of Lucas' comment below is what seems to be the troubling thing: quote: AP News Article "You've got the whole assembly line built, and then you say, 'Hey, we can make up something,"' Lucas said in an interview. "It was like old-time movie making. What I love about television, it's like Monogram Pictures or the old studio system, where a couple guys come to work and they sit and have some coffee and go, 'Why don't we make a movie about such and such? OK, fine.' And at the end of the day, it's pretty much on its way." I don't think "making money" is the troubling part. The bad thing is really this notion that any sort of creative endeavor can be turned into an assembly line, mass production, bolt-turner type of task. Very often, people who are not creative at all and have no understanding of what goes into creating art, music and literature are the same ones coming up with these assembly line scenarios. As much as I would like to be able to sit at my desk and crank out a great looking graphic design as fast as I can draw on paper and click mouse buttons it never works like that. You wind up having to search for something to inspire better ideas and inspiration so you can arrive at a better solution -rather than crank out some tired old crap. LOTS of movies and TV shows are already made in an assembly line manner, due largely to low budgets and tight deadlines. The quality of the product ends up suffering. Soap operas, certain DVD series and the endless supply of grade F straight to video movies in action, horror and soft porn genres make up a lot of that product. All very forgettable. Great movies require some significant time be spent on the story and script. The redeeming parts in Lucas' plans is Lucas overseeing the work himself. At least he is a creative talent instead of just some MBA bean counter. And he's working from a specific saga rather than quickly cranking out movies about just anything. His "art film" projects might do well if he's working from scripts that were developed thoroughly rather than something rushed out of Final Draft Pro at the last minute.  |  IP: Logged Mike Schindler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1039 From: Oak Park, IL, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 03-15-2008 10:51 AM                     I think the assembly line comment is taken a bit out of context. I think what he's saying is that he has all of the pieces in place so that when a good idea comes along, there isn't the usual lag time associated with pre-production. He's got a team of talented people whom he can turn to at any time in order to develop a quality product. The other thing to keep in mind is that he does still take the time to get to that "assembly line" point. This show has been in the works for about 3 years. Even more development is being put into the live-action show. He says he plans to have the entire first season written before he even starts shooting. And yeah, he'll make a lot of money, which will allow him to do his art films.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-18-2008 09:43 PM                        Back on topic: The movie is definitely not in 3D according to this newer imdb article. 3-D 'Clone Wars'? It's Not Happening, Says Lucas Although numerous filmmakers and studio executives have been forecasting that 3-D movies will become the wave of the future, with several animation units being converted to 3-D productions exclusively, George Lucas has not joined the 3-D boosters' club. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly magazine, Lucas said that his August 15 release of the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the theatrical version of his Cartoon Network series, will not be presented in 3-D, despite numerous reports to the contrary. His reasoning? "Well, you know, it's expensive," he told the magazine, "and we felt that everybody kind of looks at the downside: It would cost twice as much to do it in 3-D as it did to do the movie in the first place. So you say, "Well, gosh, do you think we're going to get that much more out of it?" Nevertheless, Lucas maintained that he still intends to make good on converting his original Star Wars movies into 3-D. "It's just that technically it's a much harder thing to pull off than we thought." (Mike again) I wish he'd just forget turning the old SW movies into 3-D. I saw a sample clip of Episode IV in 3-D at a convention a couple of years ago (in digital) and it was fantastically underwhelming. He'll get a lot of bad reviews on this project if it goes forward.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.