george lucas

George Lucas and musicals; not the first combination of genres and directors to come to mind, is it? But according to a Hollywood Reporter post, Lucas is planning a CGI-animated film. In fact, it's in preproduction at the Skywalker Ranch right now?

Lucas so rarely ventures outside the Star Wars universe since his first film centered on a galaxy far away in a time long ago. Maybe he's bored with Sith and light sabers? But as a producer, he's more likely to stray, and it looks like he's producing, not directing.

There's very few details about the production, which isn't surprising. Lucas is known for keeping his productions under wraps, and strategically doling out details to maximize buzz. All that's known right now is that Kevin Munroe is directing, and David Berenbaum penned the screenplay. Munroe directed TMNT in 2007 (his directorial debut), and the adaptation of Dead of Night, which recently wrapped production. Berenbaum wrote Elf and adapted The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Sci fi is sexy, and savvy gadget marketers know that using a name referencing science fiction classics will give it mileage that it might not otherwise get. Only Google may have mis-stepped by using a Blade Runner reference without securing permissions, and the phone went on sale yesterday.

"Nexus One" is an apparent reference to the cyborgs in the late Philip K. Dick novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" which was adapted for the big screen as Blade Runner. The New York Times reports the device is called "Nexus One" in at least two government filings. The NYT report indicates the name "Nexus One" was used in documents Google filed with the FTC, and in an US Patent and Trademark Office application.

In an interview on Tuesday, Dick's daughter, Isa Dick Hackett, says "We were never consulted, no requests were made, and we didn't grant any sort of permissions." Hackett also stated that while she was discussing the situation with legal counsel, pointed out that her father was a fan of technology, and that It's certainly something we would have been happy to discuss and interested in exploring. They only needed to reach out."

Google declined to discuss the name, nor has it confirmed it will be selling mobile phones. However, the same report indicates that Goggle is testing one.

Other companies have made the effort to obtain permissions. Verizon Wireless licensed the "Droid" name from Star Wars creator George Lucas for use with their Motorola phone.

Some three years ago, in a court room far, far away (California, actually), George Lucas successfully sued Brit Andrew Ainsworth for $20 million copyright infringement. Ainsworth had been making and selling replicas of the iconic Storm Trooper helmet and armor from Star Wars, which at least sounds pretty illegal, but what holds true in this country isn't necessarily so in another.

The British court system would not enforce the ruling, thus prompting Lucas (via Lucasfilm) to appeal the British decision. On December 14, Lord Justices Rix, Jacob and Patten agreed to dismiss the appeal, citing that the helmets and armor were, according to The Times UK, "'utilitarian' rather than artistic purpose, so 'neither the armour nor the helmet are sculpture'." The ruling also stated that Lucasfilm could not exercise its US copyright in the UK. At least they made it clear that Ainsworth did not actually own copyrights to the helmet or armor (well duh...).

I can't pretend to understand the finer points of US copyright law, let alone those laws as they translate to the UK, but doesn't something about this just seem fundamentally...wrong? Would the ruling have been any different had Ainsworth been making Darth Vader helmets or Boba Fett suits?

(via The Times UK and The Hollywood Reporter's THR, Esq. blog)

Um ... probably not. But the folks over at Market Saw seem to believe that they've uncovered secret galactic plans to create a brand new big-screen Star Wars trilogy in 3D. However, they claim these films wouldn't be directed by George Lucas -- instead, he'd pass them off to other directors like Steven Spielberg or Francis Ford Coppola (who Market Saw claims their source mentioned directly as a potential candidate). Yeah, definitely let me know when Coppola decides to direct a Star Wars film so I can look out my window and watch all the pigs flying.

Almost immediately after this rumor hit, folks began to read between the lines. Market Saw, who've been the unofficial Avatar fansite for awhile now, continually mention in their piece that Avatar has to do well in theaters in order for this new Star Wars trilogy to happen since Lucas wants the films in 3D and needs more theaters to come equipped with 3D technology. As AICN points out, it seems like someone at Fox is spinning a marketing web by putting the thought in folks' heads that if they go see Avatar, they'll be helping to bring new Star Wars movies to life.

From MS: "How seriously should you consider these rumors? Well it is coming from a source that SHOULD KNOW. This source is absolutely connected. So odds are it is seriously being talked about at Lucasfilm. Right now. Will it happen? AVATAR will have to hit and hit big and then all the stars have to align properly - all I can do is pass on the info."

Apparently the boys are hammering out the details for a fifth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise. Harrison Ford says that if the script is good he'll come back. But does that mean anything? He put on the fedora for Indiana Jones and the Space Invaders and that took the franchise in a direction it didn't need to go.

What's next? Indiana Jones and the Flying Saucer of Anal Probing? Indy and Mutt are abducted by aliens and brought on board their spaceship filled with ... snakes! The Jones boys must escape the clutches of the aliens by swinging from Indy's whip into an escape pod and make their way back to Earth with the alien's plans for planetary destruction so they can give them to Randy Quaid, who'll fly his plane right into the aliens' ship and blow 'em all up while Will Smith sheds a tear.

Damn, and I thought they couldn't top the fourth one. If Indiana Jones is going to come back, he needs to return to his mystical roots and leave the aliens for someone else to play with. ET II: Extra-Terrestrial Boogaloo maybe. What would you do in the new movie?

George Lucas and co. have found yet another way to strip nerds of their hard-earned space bucks, but this event sounds cool enough to save up for. A worldwide Star Wars concert tour will kick off Oct. 1 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The tour will feature a live orchestra performing John Williams' classic Star Wars movie scores in front of a three-story high-def LED screen offering clips from all six movies.

The idea is to tell the Star Wars story chronologically using the live orchestra, the film clips, and C-3PO himself, actor Anthony Daniels, providing live narration in between the musical performances. The tour will also feature an exhibit of tons of Star Wars props and costumes straight from Lucas' Skywalker Ranch.

The concert plans to hit 50 North American cities in the next year. Is it coming to your town? Click through for the tour dates plus exhibit images from the tour's official site.

If studios weren't incredibly anal about leaks and spoilers, we might be seeing a whole lot of videos like this on the web. David Berry worked as a rotoscope and animation artist for six months on Star Wars, shooting home movies when time allowed. He's put up a nostalgic compilation of some of those set to music, and it's a fun look back at the behind-the-scenes of George Lucas' space romp in the mid-70s when facial hair was common among men, and bras were not among women.

Read the rest at Cinematical

Welcome to TV Geek Week -- a new weekly column about sci-fi TV news and programming. Don't forget to click through for this week's TV picks.

Is George Lucas finally moving ahead with that promised live-action Star Wars TV show? Sources say yes. Sources also say the show will be produced in Australia by a hand-picked crew of Aussie TV vets. And we might even get to see it before the end of 2010. But I got a question: Do we really want a live-action Star Wars TV show?

Well, yeah, of course we do. For most of us, the original Star Wars trilogy was a thrilling entry point into the bizarre and inspiring world of science fiction. For an '80s kid like me, Star Wars was nothing less than a dazzling blast of awesome that I couldn't get out of my head. There was nothing cooler. (I wore the sh*t outta my Yoda jammies.) I'd love to see a Star Wars TV show deliver the same unpolished pluck, heart and spirit of the original trilogy, but we all know that's not gonna happen.

You've seen the prequels. You've seen The Clone Wars. It's likely the new series will be heavy on cartoony CG effects and kid-friendly concepts and light on the simple but engaging storytelling we fell in love with decades ago. Word is the series will focus on "relationships and emotional landscapes." Normally, I'd say that's a good thing. What's a TV show without engaging relationships and characters motivated by emotion? But we've already seen the new Star Wars' version of relationship drama, and it is very, very bad. Remember that "Sand sucks. It is so rough and sand-like, but you are so soft" nonsense between Anakin and Padme from Episode II? It only got worse from there.