news.yahoo.com






According to the press release, ILM is a gun for hire and will stay such. They will operate independently of Disney, Disney will just take a bit off the top as their reward for flying the Disney banner. This doesn't mean Disney won't use them, it just means that there will be less control over them. I'm presuming Skywalker Sound will be run the same way.

As for his 4 bln cushion, remember half is cash, half is stock. George has a vested interest now (to the tune of 40,000,000 shares) in how Disney performs over all. Given the 2.6% rise in stock post purchase of Lucasfilm, I think it'll do rather well. Not to leave out, Disney's dividend (while only 1.2%) means that George will reap at least 24 million off the top of his investment every year no matter what. Just think if Disney's stock splits or the dividend goes up. He's set for retirement.

And lastly, he's right. Disney can bring all the ad hoc licenses that have been loaned and pissed away to idiots like Del Rey and other vendors and bring them all in house, and get better distribution for them.

ILM to Pact With China’s Base FX
http://variety.com/2013/film/news/ilm-t ... 200383782/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/l ... als-443625



http://www.base-fx.com/

At least its a good studio

Really sucks to see the jobs recently cut at ILM being outsourced to China.

I suppose the fact that the Star Wars films were largely shot outside of the U.S. doesn’t make this move any easier to grasp. While I agree that this change “sucks," I also acknowledge that outsourcing is a necessary evil which will help Lucasfilm compete with its rivals. (Personally, I’m a bit of a hypocrite for complaining at all since I’ve got a “Made in China” Obi-wan toy staring at me as I type this post.)

On the bright side, U.S. GDP now counts the creation of artistic works in its calculation:

“Huzzah! The U.S. economy is 3 percent bigger than we thought. Thanks, George Lucas!”

Now ILM might be considering to open shop in London!
http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/i ... sive-88566

John Knoll is now ILM's CCO:

http://starwars.com/news/lucasfilms-ind ... ficer.html

An well deserved promotion.

3 cheers for this. I got to meet John Knoll at Celebration 2, and he was kind, smart and gracious. His talent and vision have been so important to LFL since the SEs came out. I'm very happy he will be a big part of the company going forward. Ep. 7-8-9 can only benefit from his presence and input.

I bet that's where the majority of our future SW7 leaks come from...it's hard enough to prevent secrets from getting out of one location, let alone five.

I feel like the starter to each of the first two trilogies dramatically raised the bar in terms of visual effects for the movie industry in their respective eras. I haven't heard much talk of about how TFA will set the standard or push the envelope for big-budget moviemaking. Abrams and crew seem to be taking some steps backward in this regard (i.e. shooting on film, building more practical sets and vehicles). Do you expect TFA will be a watershed moment for visual effects and, if so, in what ways?

I want to be dazzled, goddamnit!

That's because the VFX industry has been commoditized. It's not about who can produce amazing effects but who can do it faster for less money.

Scott Squires' blog is very insightful.