THR’s Heat Vision blog is reporting today that George Lucas and Lucasfilm has begun pre-production on an animated CG Musical that believe it or not, has nothing to do with light sabers or ancient artifacts. The project is being directed by TMNT director Kevin Munroe and written by Elf writer David Berenbaum. There is no release date yet or beginning production date for that matter. It is also unknown if the story was originally created by Lucas (as most Lucasfilm projects are) or if this is an idea that Lucasfilm bought. Read the full story

Despite being the highest grossing film in China’s history, the China Film Group (coincidentally run by the state) considers the plot for James Cameron’s Avatar too similar to a very sensitive issue in China at the moment and is thus pulling all 2D screenings of the film. The 3D blockbuster took in 550 million yuan ($80.6 million) in its first two weeks, but is being replaced by a patriotic film Confucius starring Chow Yun Fat in the title role (check out the trailer here). Film fans can still see 3D showings of the sci-fi epic, but there are so few 3D cinema screens (about 900) in China that it’s almost like a theatrical ban for the Golden Globe-winning movie.

Apparently the plot of Avatar’s human colonists attempting to demolish an alien village for its resources has come under criticism from Chinese officials for concerns of parallels with the millions of Chinese people who have been evicted from their homes to make room for high rises and government infrastructure projects. Avatar’s success has also angered some who fear the film’s popularity takes too much market share from their domestic films. As reported by Variety, the move is more or less standard practice in China, where the government will often clear the screens of foreign fare in the run-up to major holidays — in this case, Chinese New Year next month — to help boost local movies.

But it’s not all bad news for the Na’vi. Another mammoth sci-fi auteur has taken keen interest in the 3D technology used in Avatar, for another reboot rerelease of a certain revered franchise. George Lucas has reportedly said that the 3D tech behind Avatar might finally allow him to realize his  3D theatrical dream for the original trilogy.

“We’ve been looking for years and years and years of trying to take ‘Star Wars‘ and put it in 3-D,” George explained to Access. “But, [the] technology hasn’t been there. We’ve been struggling with it, but I think this will be a new impetus to make that happen.”

Source: Yahoo Movie News

This is exciting news for some, but I’m sure many more will have a certain amount of apprehension when thinking about Lucas going back to the editing room on what many consider the holy grail of cinema. The 3D technology might make more sense for the newer prequel films which were shot entirely in digital, but then again no one wants to see a 3D Jar Jar Binks.

How do you feel about Avatar censorship? Do you want to see a 3D remake of Star Wars?

I haven’t seen New Moon. I’ve seen the trailers, and heard the instant purring of teen girls when that first shot of Robert Pattinson appeared on the screen, hair going every which way and the thin rouge lips of a Parisian prostitute puckered in a perpetual grimace. I could only fathom their attraction to this androgynous caricature when I saw the boys that accompanied these girls: matted hair in their eyes, milkworm skin with just the hint of pubescent stubble, bottomed by skinny jeans that would require pliers to pull up the zipper. Pattinson is their archetypal epitome. The ultimate in neo-goth trendsetting. I mean, he is a vampire. But his fan base goes beyond the obvious teenage girls (and the wiry, skinny jean wearing boys by extension) and hits an estrogenic demographic I have not witnessed in pop culture since Leo’s dirty blond locks bobbed on the scrim of an icy Atlantic. Read the full story

A few days ago I was lucky enough to be able to do an on-phone interview with Scott Farrar the special effects supervisor and second unit director on Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen. You may not recognized Scott by name, but you have surely seen his work. Scott’s masterful resumé includes Star Wars VI- Return of The Jedi, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Jurassic Park, Men in Black, Artificial Intelligence: AI, and many other classic films. His work on both the Transformer films are ground breaking achievements in special effects.

How’s it going Scott? Big fan by the way.

Scott Farrar: Very well, thank you.

Was it a challenge getting all the effects done in a two year span and how much time did you have to work on the first film?

Scott Farrar: Well on the first film, actually each film took about a year and a half. We start with the script and then we start breaking it down to figure out how many shots and how much work is going to be involved. So after reading the script we realize, “Oh my gosh there are forty to six new characters!”, and they have major speaking roles and they have to act a lot better then they did in the first one. So right away you see some pretty daunting challenges.

So how do you make sure all the robots are different and unique in their own way? So when they are battling the audience can tell the difference between an autobot and a decepticon.

Scott Farrar: Well we know that in the first movie some of the characters were a little bit confusing because some of their colors looked similar. So that was a big note from fans and audiences. So we tried very hard to make sure we had colors and shapes that were a little easier to tell apart. So we try to make sure the fallen standout and hopefully the voice actors help the audience recognize some of the characters. It’s pretty easy for us to keep track of the characters because each one has a name so right away we start calling them by their name when watching dailies. So we can recognize that buffoon Starscream kissing up to Megatron! (Laughs)

Check out the rest of the interview below >>

Comedian actor Dan Fogler recently spoke to Moviehole and said that Fanboys director Kyle Newman has an idea for a possible sequel, and that it would revolve around the characters attempting to crash the set of Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Fogler also went on to say, ”If you want to do it right, do it independently”, which is obviously a reference to the post-production problems.

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