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Image Source: Warner Bros On July 25, 1980, Caddyshack teed off in theaters with modest expectations and mixed reviews. Now, as we celebrate the Caddyshack 45th anniversary, it remains one of the most beloved sports comedies ever made Why Caddyshack Still Swings Comedic Dream Team:

Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, and Ted Knight delivered performances that were equal parts absurd and iconic. Murray’s Carl Spackler was almost entirely improvised — including that legendary “Cinderella Story” monologue. As it turns out, much of Bill Murray’s on-screen golf wisdom came from real life — he actually spent time working in a caddyshack. (Click on the media bar below to hear Bill Murray share how his real-life experiences shaped his iconic role in Caddyshack .) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Bill_Murray_Caddyshack_.mp3 Slobs vs. Snobs:

Pitched as “Animal House on a golf course,” the movie took aim at country club elitism with...

When DreamWorks decided to breathe real fire into How to Train Your Dragon with a live-action remake, things almost went hilariously wrong. And by “wrong,” we mean nearly Toothless-level catastrophic. Yep, the beloved dragon’s live-action makeover strayed a little too far from his iconic animated charm, enough to make fans clutch their plush Night Furies.

Thankfully, the creators took a page straight from Disney’s Lilo & Stitch playbook. After all, the same dream team behind both films, Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois know a thing or two about misunderstood creatures with a lot of teeth and even more heart. From returning legends like Gerard Butler to behind-the-scenes magic that saved Toothless from a scaly disaster, here’s how one nostalgic trick from 2002 helped save Berk’s most important friendship in 2025.

Dean DeBlois explains Toothless’ change in How to Train Your Dragon Mason Thames in How to Train Your Dragon...

Toothless is a beloved character in How To Train Your Dragon, but almost didn’t look like Toothless in the new live-action movie.

The latest adaptation of the hit animated movie was just released in theaters on Friday (June 13), but director Dean DeBlois reveals the dragon nearly looked different in live-action.

Keep reading to find out more…

“We went too far a couple of times in exploring where Toothless could have come from,” Dean told Discussing Film about the photorealism of the dragon. “We received some advice from John Dykstra. He’s a legendary visual effects person from Ilm, and he was consulting with Universal at the time. He said to think backwards, like if the animated movie is a stylized and exaggerated version of these creatures, then what did they look like in real life? It was a great philosophy to adopt as the designers at Framestore started to explore the other dragons.

The How to Train Your Dragon remake reimagines the animated hit in live-action, and adapting the story this way came with some challenges. Designing the live-action Toothless posed a big problem in particular, though the filmmakers were able to avoid an "Ugly Sonic" situation.

Per DiscussingFilm, the process was recently discussed by Dean DeBlois, who co-directed the original movie with Chris Sanders before coming back to helm the live-action version. DeBlois shared how the VFX team "went too far a couple of times" with the tentative designs for Toothless the dragon. Going too realistic started to make Toothless look more offputting and less recognizable to fans, and it took some expert advice before DeBlois figured out the key to cracking the design.

“We went too far a couple of times in exploring where Toothless could have come from," DeBlois said. "We received some advice from John Dykstra. He’s a...

Okay, I need to get this off my chest—I still haven’t fully recovered from the cursed nightmare that was live-action Sonic back in 2020. You know the one: human teeth, broad nose, creepy little eyes without the expressive eyebrows. It was like someone tried to turn a cartoon icon into a taxidermy experiment gone horribly wrong.

And now, I’m panicking all over again because How to Train Your Dragon is going live-action, and I swear, if they mess up Toothless like they did Sonic, I will absolutely rage. That little dragon is precious! I need the wide-eyed, cat-faced, goofy boy we all love.

I panicked over Toothless after 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog

To be honest, every time a beloved animated character gets the live-action treatment, my anxiety skyrockets. Because history hasn’t been easy on live-action animations. Take the dwarves from the Snow White remake to the live-action Sonic...

Clint Eastwood turned 52 in 1982, but, as far as American moviegoers were concerned, he'd only been a movie star for 15 years (which is when all three chapters of the "Dollars Trilogy" were theatrically released in the United States). And though his "Dirty Harry" movies were viewed as politically conservative, he was still largely viewed as a revolutionary figure in film. His Westerns were revisionist and, for the time, incredibly violent; his cop flicks were unapologetically R-rated and, with "Every Which Way But Loose" and "Any Which Way You Can," he had every kid in the country wishing they could have a beer-swilling, bird-flipping orangutan as their best friend.

Throughout his career, Clint Eastwood has taken note of what kinds of movies are connecting with viewers and sought to place his own personal spin on them. He responded to the buddy-cop phenomenon of the 1980s with the the big-budget quasi-spoof "The Rookie...

While Young Frankenstein had to spend money on monster makeup and vintage props, and Blazing Saddles no doubt had to hire horses and horse-poop cleaner-uppers, Mel Brooks’ 1987 Star Wars spoof Spaceballs ended up being his most expensive movie up until that point — by quite a lot.

In a vintage clip that was recently shared online by Today, Brooks sat down for an interview with film critic and mustache enthusiast, Gene Shalit, just weeks before Spaceballs hit theaters. And the very first question concerned reports of the inflated budget. “How come Spaceballs cost more than all of Mel Brooks’ other movies put together?” Shalit asked.

“There was a mistake made somewhere,” Brooks joked. “It was supposed to be $2.2 million, but somebody put the point after the second 2 and suddenly it was $22 million. They gave it to us so we spent it. Mostly we spent it on limos. Everybody loves a limo.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers may be considered the worst of Peter Jackson's initial trilogy, but it still earned a significant number of Oscar nominations. Much of The Two Towers' legacy is underwhelming only by comparison, but few would ever say that it is not a magnificent movie. The Lord of the Rings timeline is essentially a single, very long adventure, as this is how J. R. R. Tolkien wrote the source material. The result is that the individual movies do not differ much in tone.

While The Two Towers isn't favorably compared to the installments that preceded and followed it, the sequel also faced significant competition from other movies at the 75th Academy Awards. This was a year when one of the best movie musicals to win Best Picture arose, as well as another Martin Scorsese crime drama. Therefore, a handful of movies competed...

Hollywood has been chasing the blockbuster high of "Star Wars" since 1977 — and often falling short. One of the first and most transparent copies, though, was on television. In 1978, Glen A. Larson created a space opera for serialization on ABC: "Battlestar Galactica." Set in far-away space, the series kicked off with the TV movie "Saga of a Star World." Humans, living on 12 planets named for the astrological signs, are at war with a robot race called the Cylons. A surprise attack sees the Cylons laying waste to their enemies — the remaining humans flee in a "ragtag fugitive fleet" led by the eponymous starship.

The "Star Wars" similarities are obvious, both in narrative and aesthetic. Lieutenant Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) in "Battlestar Galactica" is a cocky starship pilot, clearly modeled on Han Solo (Harrison Ford). Like the X-Wings in "Star Wars," the heroes fly one-man, fighter jet style ships ("Vipers") into battle. A...

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“Star Wars” is good about keeping the content churning for fans: the franchise most recently released the highly anticipated “Acolyte” in June, with several other offshoots also in the works, including “Skeleton Crew” and “Lando.”

All the “Star Wars” content also means that there’s always new galactic-themed merch and gadgets to gift the biggest fans in your life. Below are 35 of the most unique, fun and nerdy “Star Wars” goods to gift this year.

Icons Unearthed: Star Wars

This new Star Wars book features an oral history into the biggest sci-fi franchise of all time. The book includes exclusive interviews with Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, Paul Hirsch, Phil Tippett, Rick Baker, Ken Ralston, John Dykstra and more. The biggest interview: new details from Marcia Lucas, the ex-wife of George Lucas,...

Clint Eastwood ventured into science fiction with Firefox, playing a pilot tasked with stealing a futuristic Soviet aircraft. The film's aerial sequences were inspired by the Death Star trench run from Star Wars, utilizing special effects expert John Dykstra. Despite its success, Firefox was Eastwood's only attempt at launching a blockbuster franchise based on Craig Thomas's novel, choosing not to continue with future installments.

Clint Eastwood has always been the most adventurous and interesting box-office superstar precisely because of his willingness to subvert his iconic screen persona, as evidenced by his creepy performance in the lurid 1984 thriller Tightrope. Moreover, while Eastwoods action films, specifically the Dirty Harry film series, contain a requisite amount of heroic exaggeration, the actor has always projected the sense that he has a firm grip on reality. The most notable exception to this rule is the 1982 techno-thriller film Firefox, which marks the only time...

After the Hays Code was finally dropped in the late ’60s, it allowed filmmakers to make films without any restrictions, which led to the rise of some of the greatest names in filmmaking. This included acclaimed filmmaker George Lucas, who rose to prominence following the success of American Graffiti, starring Harrison Ford, which hit the shelves in ’73.

But it was his next collaboration with Ford that would go on to change Hollywood forever, kickstarting one of the most iconic movie franchises of all time. However, making Star Wars: A New Hope was pretty taxing for the filmmaker, as the sci-fi juggernaut almost fumbled after Lucas underwent some medical issues.

George Lucas’s Medical Emergency Almost Halted Star Wars’ Production

George Lucas on the set of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. (Credit: Lucasfilm)

With A New Hope George Lucas not only created one of the most influential sci-fi releases of all time,...

Star Wars is now one of the biggest franchises of all time. Whether it is the movies, TV shows, toys, or comics, the franchise has now become a part of popular culture and will undeniably remain so, for decades to come. Yet, the first-ever Star Wars movie was plagued with development and production issues, so severe were these issues that George Lucas nearly had a heart attack.

George Lucas via Star Wars/Youtube

In the middle of these issues, Lucas decided to screen the rough cut of the movie to some of his industry colleagues. While auteurs like Steven Spielberg struggled to understand it, even the movie’s editor, Paul Hirsch was unable to make heads or tails out of it.

Star Wars‘ Rough Cut Was So Bad That Even its Editor Did Not Understand it

Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope | Disney+

Almost every Star Wars fan knows...

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 has many iconic scenes that have had a lasting impact. None, however, have been as timeless and memorable as the train scene. From fighting Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock on a moving train to stopping the said train and an entire train car full of people hiding Spider-Man’s identity, it is safe to say the scene left an impact. It has become ingrained in the character’s history, and there have been many attempts to recreate it.

Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man stopping a train in Spider-Man 2

Even though the entire sequence was less than ten minutes long, the preparation and thought that went into it are truly impressive. Other than the director, it is impressive just how many hands were involved in making it. Here is an in-depth background on how the scene was shot.

The Visual Effects Team Had Their Hands Full...

A half-century ago when George Lucas decided to make “Star Wars,” a core visual effects team was handed a sizable challenge: Figure out a believable way to transport audiences to a galaxy far, far away. Essential to that goal was the development of a new type of motion control camera system: built in a Van Nuys warehouse where the production filmed space-set scenes such as the climatic trench run.

Now fans in Southern California can see the historic Dykstraflex camera system, newly restored and in working order, on display at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures starting Saturday in recognition of May the 4th, aka Star Wars day. The system weighs 1,500 lbs. and will be demonstrated by VFX vets with a 14-foot track and studio scale replicas of the Millennium Falcon, which is five-feet long, and a 20-inch X-Wing fighter.

Looking back, Richard Edlund, a member of the core VFX...

Tobey Maguire's incredible tray catch in Spider-Man was a 156-take wonder, showing Peter Parker's impressive reflexes without CGI magic. The iconic lunch-catching scene in Spider-Man demonstrates the balance between Peter's high school life and developing superpowers. Sam Raimi insisted on keeping the tray catch scene in Spider-Man, showing the dedication and effort that went into this memorable moment.

The superhero genre has a lot to thank Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man for, including one of the most iconic scenes in any superhero movie that wasn’t computer-generated – it was all thanks to Tobey Maguire’s skills. In 2002, Peter Parker made the jump to the big screen in the first of many modern live-action Spider-Man movies, directed by Sam Raimi and with Tobey Maguire as the title character. The film was a critical and financial success, making way for two sequels and being credited for redefining the modern superhero genre as well as the summer blockbuster.

The biggest set piece in the most recent live-action Spider-Man film, 2021's "Spider-Man: No Way Home," involves, through a series of multiversal shenanigans, Tom Holland's friendly neighborhood web-slinger teaming up with two other Spider-Men to fight Electro, Sandman, and the Lizard on the Statue of Liberty.

The biggest set piece in 2004's "Spider-Man 2" involves Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man trying to stop a train full of innocent passengers from crashing.

By comparison, the train scene may seem almost quaint, but director Sam Raimi used it as an opportunity to combine then-state-of-the-art action filmmaking with genuine humanity and pathos, resulting in a cocktail that dozens of superhero films have been unable to fully replicate in the 20 years since. You remember the scene: As Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus (aka "Doc Ock") are fighting on a New York City skyscraper, they fall onto an elevated train zooming through the city and continue...

Screen Rant interveiwed Dan winters about his participation in National Geographic's docuseries Photographer. The show delves into the photographers' career paths, family lives, and ambitious projects, providing insights into their creative processes. Dan Winters' episode showcases his experience in photographing NASA launches and shipyard shots, highlighting the preparation and wonder involved.

National Geographic’s new series Photographer turns the focus on those who would typically be on the opposite side of the lens. The six-part endeavor devotes one episode each to a photographer at the top of their game, featuring Paul Nicklen and Christina Mittermeier, Anand Varma, Krystle Wright, Campell Addy, Muhammad Muheisen, and Dan Winters. Together, these photographers represent a huge range of work that encompasses everything from adventure photography to presidential portraits.

As with the best National Geographic specials, Photographer pairs breathtaking imagery with a unique story in each episode. In the case of Dan Winters, the...

In the late Spring of 1979, Paramount Pictures' production of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" was in big trouble. With a looming release date of December 7 of that year, the film was still struggling to be completed, with the bulk of its visual effects work yet to be even attempted, let alone finished.

In retrospect, given the movie's production history, this was an inevitable problem. Ever since the original "Star Trek" series was cancelled in the summer of 1969, the franchise had experienced a number of stops and starts when it came to being revived. Around the mid-'70s, creator Gene Roddenberry had seemingly set up a script and a production for the show's leap to the big screen, only for Paramount to pivot and seek to turn that work into a proposed reboot of the series back on television, to be known as "Star Trek: Phase II." That show was literal...

The story is familiar to Trekkies. When "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" was in production in the late 1970s, SFX guru Douglas Trumbull was busy completing work on Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Paramount asked Trumbull to work on their movie, but he turned them down. Not only was not quite done with "Close Encounters," but he was eager to return to a personal project of his, the development of Showscan. Showscan was a new filming process that ran high-fidelity 70mm film through a camera at 60 frames per second, allowing for crystal clear images and more natural movement. Although such a process had the potential to revolutionize the film industry, Paramount didn't care. There was a rumor that Paramount managed to get Trumbull's Scowscan funding cut as revenge for not working on "Star Trek." 

Instead, Paramount hired Robert Abel and Associates to develop then-novel CGI for "Star Trek.

For so many reasons, George Lucas' 1977 "Star Wars" is a revolutionary film. Like any game-changer, some of the ways in which "Star Wars" re-shaped the cinematic landscape couldn't have been predicted; its ushering in a huge wave of big budget sci-fi/fantasy films, its one-two punch with "Jaws" establishing the summer blockbuster, its use of Joseph Campbell-inspired myth making shaping the way so many screenplays would be written for the next few decades, and so on.

However, some of the innovations created by "Star Wars" were very visible while it was being made, none more so than by Lucas himself. In addition to gathering together a cadre of visual-effects pioneers and wizards who could make his vision a reality on screen (a coterie later dubbed Industrial Light & Magic), Lucas faced the problem of making sure their work could be seen in its best light, literally. As Paul Hirsch, one of...

Star Wars redefined film special effects. The craft of practical effects really got to shine in the Star Wars original trilogy. Since then, practical effects have helped push Star Wars to new heights using classic but still impressive tactics.

The release of George Lucas' first Star Wars film was a pivotal moment in cinematic history for many reasons. The novel science fiction aesthetic and the methods used to portray it in film captivated audiences worldwide and changed filmmaking forever. Since it hit theaters in 1977, Star Wars has set the standard for high-concept blockbuster movies, from the simple but exciting plot to the stunning special effects.

While the fictional world of the galaxy far, far away was an instant hit, it was the special effects used to create this galaxy that truly changed cinema. The level of detail and ingenuity employed by the original Industrial Light and Magic team was nearly unprecedented.

George Lucas faced numerous challenges and setbacks while making A New Hope, including uncooperative crew and technology that fell short. Lucas discovered that the special effects team at Ilm had only completed seven shots, putting him in a major financial hole and causing extreme stress and health issues. Despite believing that Star Wars was doomed, Lucas took matters into his own hands, making changes to the editing team and personally overseeing the visual effects to ensure the film met audience expectations.

The making of A New Hope was such a disastrous experience for George Lucas that it almost ended Star Wars before it began. What it took to make the original Star Wars film has been well documented; equally explored is the horrific set of circumstances Lucas dealt with as he struggled to get the picture made. From impatient executives at 20th Century Fox to an uncooperative crew and technology that wasn't up to par,...

George Lucas' "Star Wars" was a whole-cloth piece of world building. Inspired by gee-whiz sci-fi serials like "Flash Gordon," Lucas envisioned a sprawling saga that would stretch over multiple chapters. There was just one problem: the technology required to bring his vision to fruition didn't exist.

If you're any kind of "Star Wars" fan, you know about John Dykstra's revolutionary motion-control camera (the Dykstraflex), a pioneering piece of equipment that allowed Lucas to pull off the climactic trench run. You're also most certainly aware of how Rick Baker and Stuart Freeborn conjured up their groundbreaking creature effects. But do you know the story of how the lightsaber, the Jedi weapon of choice, was discovered?

While Lucas' idea for the lightsaber was brought to vivid life by the brilliant conceptual designer Ralph McQuarrie, someone had to either build or find the saber That someone was art director Roger Christian. And...

George Lucas had a bold vision when he set out to make "Star Wars" in the mid-1970s. He did not, however, have the technology to pull it off. No one did, at least not at an affordable price.

Douglas Trumbull had recently vaulted visual effects forward with his optical innovations for Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," but his photorealistic presentation of space was based wholly in physical reality. The space stations and ships in Kubrick's masterpiece drifted gracefully in the cosmos. Trumbull replicated this galactic ballet to eerie effect in his directorial debut "Silent Running," on which he employed an upstart technophile named John Dykstra, who was eager to build on Trumbull's inventions with a more dynamic application that would jar sci-fi flicks out of their reality-bound lethargy.

When Lucas commenced work on "Star Wars" (via a go-with-god greenlight from 20th Century Fox's Alan Ladd Jr....

George Lucas' original "Star Wars" was, at the time, probably the most technologically complicated undertaking since Stanley Kubrick took a space-crazed populace for a tour of the galaxy in "2001: A Space Odyssey." The motion control camera pioneered by John Dykstra (which he dubbed the "Dykstraflex") allowed Lucas to pull off the Death Star trench run, which ended the film on a rousing note and changed the medium forever.

But before it became a global sensation, 20th Century Fox didn't get "Star Wars." According to Lucas, Alan Ladd Jr., who greenlit the movie, told the up-and-coming director, 'I don't understand this movie, I don't get it at all, but I think you're a talented guy and I want you to make it.'" His gut instinct was based on the box-office success of "American Graffiti," which was a grounded, night-in-the-life tale of teenagers on the cusp of adulthood. It was relatable.

Randy Fullmer, a veteran Walt Disney Animation Studios animator and producer who worked on “The Little Mermaid” and “Chicken Little,” died of cancer on July 10. He was 73. Walt Disney Animation confirmed the news in a statement to Variety.

“Most people are good at one thing in their lives. Randy was good at a lot of things,” wrote Don Hahn, whom Fullmer worked with on “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King.” “He could draw and paint beautifully, but he had the mind of an engineer, and the heart of an artisan. He was great at animation; great at producing movies, too. He was at the very center of the Disney renaissance in animation, then when he needed a new chapter in his life, he started making exquisite and much sought-after bass guitars with that same engineer’s mind and artistic soul he brought to Disney animated movies. His masterful...

Randy Fullmer, the wildly creative effects animator, visual effects supervisor, artistic coordinator and producer who contributed to films including Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Little Mermaid and The Lion King at Walt Disney Animation Studios, has died. He was 73.

Fullmer died July 10 at his home in Woodland Hills following a long battle with cancer, his family announced.

From 1983-84, Fullmer worked for Don Bluth Studios, creating special effects for Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace, the first video games to be produced on laserdisc. He later was employed at John Dykstra’s live-action special effects house Apogee and at Filmation, where he handled animation for such TV shows as Happily Ever After, BraveStarr, She-Ra: Princess of Power and Ghostbusters from 1985-87.

In 1987, Fullmer was hired by Walt Disney Feature Animation (now known as Walt Disney Animation Studios) for a three-month contract to animate the Toon Town section of Who Framed Roger Rabbit...

Randy Fullmer, a Walt Disney Animation Studios effects animator, VFX supervisor and producer who worked on such classics as The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, has died. He was 73. The studio said he died July 10 at his home in Woodland Hills, CA, after a long cancer battle.

Fullmer worked at the Disney toon studio for nearly 20 years, racking up credits that also include effects animator on Oliver & Company (1988) and The Little Mermaid (1989), effects supervisor on The Rescuers Down Under (1990), artistic coordinator on The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and producer on The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) and Chicken Little (2005). He served as artistic coordinator on 1994’s The Lion King and as VFX supervisor on 1991’s Beauty and the Beast.

“Most people are good at one thing in their lives. Randy was good at a lot of things,” said Don Hahn, producer of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.

Since 1977, Star Wars and Star Trek have shared a unique relationship. But while fans debated the values of space fantasy versus science fiction, Paramount just wanted a huge blockbuster. And if not for Star Wars special effects innovators at Industrial Light and Magic, Star Trek may never have gotten the second life it did on the big screen.

The most diehard Trekkers and Trekkies know George Lucas' runaway success is why Star Trek: The Motion Picture exists. When a silly movie with talking robots and sasquatch aliens became a generational moment, every studio scrambled to find imitators. Paramount, however, had one of the genre's progenitors in its back pocket. While the movie didn't do Star Wars numbers, The Motion Picture was a financial success. Critics and fans, however, were less receptive to the cerebral, slow-paced space drama compared to the whimsy and action of A New Hope. The movie had...

Two of the most influential science-fiction franchises of the 1970s went head-to-head in the courts, when George Lucas' Star Wars sued Battlestar Galactica in 1978, and here's how the court case ended. The legal dispute between Star Wars and BSG started just as George Lucas' movie began spawning the billion dollar franchise that continues to dominate the pop culture landscape to this day. Battlestar Galactica was less successful than Star Wars, and the legal dispute lasted for longer than the lifespanc of the TV show and its 1980s spinoff.

At the heart of the legal battle between Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica was a dispute over plagiarism, and a feud between George Lucas and a former employee. Plagiarism was the main complaint, but it's interesting to note that both Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica stole from classic sci-fi. This fact didn't escape the lawyers defending BSG against Fox and George Lucas...

Gary Kurtz in 1980 (left) and 2010. Photo: Fairfax Media Archives, Jim Steinfeldt Imagine Star Wars without merch. Or Ewoks. Or another Death Star, just two movies after the first. Imagine if Leia and Luke weren’t related, and might have become lovers. Imagine Han Solo dying in the third film rather than the seventh.

Mark Hamill, Gary Kurtz, and Billy D. Williams in 1980.Photo: Fairfax Media Archives (Getty Images)

Imagine Star Wars without merch. Or Ewoks. Or another Death Star, just two movies after the first. Imagine if Leia and Luke weren’t related, and might have become lovers. Imagine Han Solo dying in...

It's still astounding to think about just how much the original "Star Wars" changed filmmaking back in 1977 when George Lucas' sci-fi fantasy adventure serial first hit theaters. Instead of waiting for technology to catch up to his ideas, Lucas surrounded himself with creative minds that managed to invent new, experimental techniques that are still being used today. Visual effects legend John Dykstra worked with a team of engineers to create the first computer-controlled motion camera called the Dykstraflex that made it possible to replicate the same shots over and over again, allowing for seamless overlays of multiple effects elements. The Dykstraflex was the key ingredient that made Lucas' vision of ships dogfighting in space a reality. Out of the need for these kinds of innovations, the legendary effects company Industrial Light & Magic was born.

From the monumental invention of the Dykstraflex to the new StageCraft technology used in "The Mandalorian,...

Gale Anne Hurd has been selected by the Visual Effects Society (Ves) as the next recipient of the Ves Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her contributions to visual arts and filmed entertainment. The award will be presented at the 21st Annual Ves Awards on February 15, 2023, at The Beverly Hilton Hotel.

“Gale Anne Hurd is one of the most respected and influential film and television producers of our generation,” said Ves Chair Lisa Cooke. “By focusing on daring material, championing technological innovations and being the consummate hands-on collaborator, she has carved out a leading position in the previously male-dominated world of the blockbuster, and become a recognized creator of iconic cultural touchstones. Gale is a driving force in our global industry and an exemplary role model, and we are very honored to bestow her with the Ves Lifetime Achievement Award.”

The Ves Lifetime Achievement Award, bestowed by the Ves Board of Directors,...

In the 1920s, Russian animator Władysław Starewicz, a.k.a. Lasislas Starevich, began experimenting with stop-motion animation techniques that would make the process look a little bit more natural. Traditionally for stop-motion, a doll, clay, or other plastic substance would be moved slightly, photographed, moved slightly again, and so on for 24 frames per second, creating the illusion of movement. The resulting animation takes a lot of painstaking work and a great deal of time, but it makes for an appealing style than allowed dolls and models to come to life. The issue Starevich had with stop-motion was that is possessed a "jerky," unnatural quality of movement. He combated this by moving his camera during the photography process to add a blur to the image. If an animated figure had the same photographic blur as a quick-moving human, Starevich figured, then the animated object would appear more real.

Thus, go-motion animation was born.

The pre-digital age of blockbuster filmmaking was a wonderland of handmade awe. Every astounding image you saw on a movie screen was tactile. Be it a mechanical shark, a model Ferris wheel rolling down the Santa Monica Pier, or a flying saucer crashing into the United States Capitol, you knew these were tangible creations placed in front of a camera. Though great filmmakers know how to dazzle us with the ones and zeroes of CGI, I far prefer the rough magic practiced by masters like Ray Harryhausen, Douglas Trumbull, and John Dykstra.

The practical visual effects revolution kicked off with Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," which flaunted mind-blowing outer space imagery from the legendary Trumbull. The next major leap came in 1977 when Dykstra invented motion control technology to thrust viewers into the nerve-frazzling trench run during the finale of "Star Wars." While moviegoers kept lining up to revisit that galaxy far,...

Newly remastered in 4K! Bruce Dern’s (literally) tree-hugging forest ranger Freeman Lowell commits space piracy to save the trees, dude, and becomes lost in space with only Huey, Dewey and Louie for companionship. The only soul back on Earth who seems to care is Joan Baez. Douglas Trumbull’s technically-accomplished first feature film does 2001 on a tiny budget, and creates something original, if a bit mushy — the bittersweet ending depresses more than it uplifts.

Silent Running

4K Ultra HD

Arrow Video

1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 90 min. / Street Date December 13, 2022 / Available from / 49.95

Starring: Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, Jesse Vint, Mark Persons, Steven Brown, Cheryl Sparks, Larry Whisenhunt.

Cinematography: Charles F. Wheeler

Film Editor: Aaron Stell

Original Music: Peter Schickiele

Special Photographic Effects: John Dykstra, Douglas Trumbull, Richard Yuricich

Written by Deric Washburn, Michael Cimino, Steven Bochco

Produced by Michael Gruskoff, Marty Hornstein

Directed by Douglas Trumbull

Arrow has been on a two-year roll,...

Exclusive: Amazon Freevee has picked up Icons Unearthed: Star Wars for the UK, the doc series that features the first tell-all on-camera interview with George Lucas’ former wife Marcia Lucas.

The landmark series aired over the summer in the U.S. on Vice TV and has since been renewed for a second season, which will showcase The Simpsons.

Icons Unearthed takes a deep dive into the Star Wars universe and features the first on-camera interview with the creator’s former wife and the original trilogy’s Oscar-winning editor.

Produced by the Nacelle Company and directed by Brian Volk-Weiss (The Toys That Made Us), Icons Unearthed travels to all 50 U.S. states along with Tunisia, England, Canada and Italy, featuring interviews with others involved with the series including Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, Paul Hirsch, Phil Tippett, Rick Baker, Ken Ralston, John Dykstra, Howard Kazanjian, Julian Glover, Ian McDiarmid, Gus Lopez,...

Whether you enjoy the "Star Wars" spinoff film "Rogue One" or not, you can't deny that it took a lot of risks to the franchise's formula. After all, it is far and away the bleakest entry in the franchise, with almost all of its main characters being killed off in a story-defining sacrifice. The film took many big gambles, and you can argue that they all paid off in dividends. It is a miracle that "Rogue One" turned out as cohesive and singular as it did, as it had a number of problems plaguing its production.

One of the biggest gambles that the film made, however, is bringing back an iconic character that many might not have expected. Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing) was a significant figure in the Galactic Empire, having appeared in "A New Hope" as a commander to Darth Vader on the Death Star. Considering how the...

As a writer, Lawrence Kasdan has crafted stories that would be impossible to tell without the groundbreaking visual effects house Industrial Light & Magic. Kasdan, who co-wrote “The Empire Strikes Back” (and several other “Star Wars” projects), “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Dreamcatcher” (which he also directed), has always been in close proximity to Ilm. But his latest project, a six-part documentary series called “Light & Magic,” goes deep into the history and pedigree of the company, which was created to work on the first “Star Wars” and has transformed the industry, again and again.

In 2019 Kasdan and his wife Meg made a short documentary called “Last Week at Ed’s,” which chronicled the closure of a beloved West Hollywood diner. (The Kasdans frequented it.) “In the process of making that documentary, I fell in love with docs,” Kasdan said. “I love the process. I love not knowing what the story was at the beginning.

As a young writer, Lawrence Kasdan made a name for himself scripting three of the most beloved cinematic spectacles of all time: “The Empire Strikes Back,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” and “Return of the Jedi.” When he moved into the director’s chair, however, his best work tended toward modestly scaled humanist dramas and comedies like “The Big Chill,” “The Accidental Tourist,” and “Grand Canyon,” films more concerned with asking deep philosophical questions about how we live our lives (and why) than with pyrotechnics or heightened acts of heroism.

With his latest work, the six-part Disney+ documentary series “Light & Magic,” Kasdan has reconciled the two sides of his filmmaking sensibility to tell a sweeping story of spectacular technology through a personal lens. The show follows the evolution of the most influential special effects house in the history of cinema, Industrial Light & Magic, through an expertly assembled combination of...

When George Lucas (above) set out to make 1977’s Star Wars, no special effects company could do the work. So he built one! Some 49 Oscars later, Industrial Light & Magic’s brilliance shines in this six-part series. Here are highlights: The iconic design of the Millennium Falcon was born when artist Joe Johnston noticed stacked dirty dishes in his sink! “It’s nickname was the pork burger,” said original Ilm chief John Dykstra. “I [had] no idea how to melt a face!” recalled Raiders of the Lost Ark director Steven Spielberg. “So I [left] it to the geniuses at Ilm.” The solution? Apply heat to a dental molding material. Ilm’s many firsts include a computer-generated liquid metal assassin in 1991’s Terminator 2, which had actor Robert Patrick walk through prison bars. Spielberg was so “blown away” by these shots, he gave Ilm its next challenge: 1993’s Jurassic Park. Light & Magic, Docuseries Premiere,...

The Nacelle Company’s “Icons Unearthed” has been renewed for Season 2 by Vice TV, Variety has learned exclusively.

In Season 2, the six-part documentary series will focus on long-running animated sitcom “The Simpsons.” Directed by Nacelle Company CEO Brian Volk-Weiss, “Icons Unearthed: The Simpsons” will reveal previously unknown and surprising details about the beloved animated series. The second season also features exclusive interviews with several writers, directors, actors and network executives, including Bill Oakley, Rich Moore, Jon Vitti, Mimi Pond, Doug Benson, Todd McFarlane, Garth Ancier, Phil Roman and Jennifer Howell.

“We’re ecstatic to have the second season of our ‘Icons Unearthed’ documentary series officially picked up by Vice TV. It’s an honor to be able to tell the little known history behind one of the most historic franchises in television, ‘The Simpsons,’” Volk-Weiss said in a statement.

In the first season of “Icons Unearthed,” the show explored the...

Vice TV will world premiere the Nacelle Company’s new Icons Unearthed series July 12, with the first installment of a 6-hour deep dive into the Star Wars Universe.

In Icons Unearthed: Star Wars Marcia Lucas, Oscar-winning film editor and ex-wife of George Lucas, sits down for her first-ever on-camera interview and provides unique insight into the rise of LucasFilm — including her 14-year marriage to and eventual divorce from George Lucas — the editing of the original Star Wars trilogy, the origin of the idea that Darth Vader would be Luke’s father and if there were really originally plans for nine movies.

Icons Unearthed: Star Wars also includes exclusive interviews with Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, Paul Hirsch, Phil Tippett, Rick Baker, Ken Ralston, John Dykstra, Howard Kazanjian, Julian Glover, Ian McDiarmid, Gus Lopez, Tom Spina and many more. Icons Unearthed: Star Wars is narrated by Michael Pennington, who portrayed Moff...

Douglas Trumbull, the legendary special effects master who helped create the worlds of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blade Runner and Star Trek: The Motion Picture has died, according to a social media post from his daughter, Amy Trumbull. He was 79.

Trumbull developed the slit-scan photography process that was used in the “Star Gate” sequence of Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi classic. “I just happened to be in the right place at the right time,” he later said. “We were struggling with the Star Gate. Nobody knew what a Star Gate was, but I came up with some ideas that I didn’t even know at the time were based on some things I was learning as a young guy about street photography and weird photographic techniques.”

Based on his work for Kubrick, Trumbull was George Lucas’ first choice to head Industrial Light & Magic, but he...

Robert Blalack, a towering figure in the world of visual effects, died on Wednesday. His wife Caroline Charron-Blalack confirmed the news to Deadline. He was 73.

Blalack said he specialized in “solving the Visual Effects requirements of ‘can’t be done’ Motion Picture productions.” He proved the truth of that statement on his second film project, a 1977 space opera by the name of Star Wars.

At the age of 29, he designed and supervised the Star Wars VistaVision Composite Optical production pipeline, which allowed all the groundbreaking 365 VistaVision VFX shots in Star Wars. Much of what he created for the film was built on a (relative) shoestring. With a VFX budget of just $1.6 million for the film, Blalack made use of obsolete VistaVision optical composite equipment from Hollywood’s Golden Years that could be had for a song.

“My task was to scavenge the Hollywood junkyards for any VistaVision Composite Optical mechanics,...

Most people question the intention behind doing a remake; is it for money (always), or so an IP won’t revert back to original ownership (sometimes), or is it to improve on an interesting concept but poor delivery (it’s happened before)? These are the normal scenarios. But then you have a legend like Tobe Hooper, who decides as the middle flick in a three-picture deal with Cannon Films, to do a sincere remake of Invaders from Mars (1986), the 1953 minor cult classic. Why? Because you can tell he genuinely loves the original, and he leaves enough Dr. Pepper fingerprints so you know you’re in Hooper Town.

Released in early June, Invaders lost money and wasn’t a critical success. Surprise! Unfortunately, most Hoopers’ aren’t built for the era they occupy; it’s not often his work was appreciated in his time.

Yet look at what he did in...

On Dec. 7, 1979, Paramount’s Star Trek — The Motion Picture hit theaters and launched the franchise on the big screen. The film, which reunited the cast of the NBC series, went on to earn three Oscar nominations (for art direction, original score and visual effects) at the 52nd Academy Awards. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:

No mistake about it, Star Trek is a big movie — big in scope, big in spectacle and, most important, big in entertainment values. Trekkies will be pleased to know that almost all of their favorite characters are back in their original roles (with the welcome addition of voluptuous Persis Khambatta as the Navigator); while the Enterprise itself, which had apparently been in drydock these many years, has now been rebuilt and enlarged to an unimaginable vastness — unimaginable except, of course, by producer Gene Roddenberry and the special effects teams assembled by Douglas Trumbull...

Peacock announced that the new docuseries “Paris in Love” will begin streaming Nov. 11, with new episodes dropping every following Thursday.

The 13-part wedding series will follow Hilton as she discovers the road to the altar has a few unexpected turns along the way as she prepares to marry successful venture capitalist Carter Reum. In the midst of planning for the wedding, fans will watch as Hilton navigates adulthood, a demanding work schedule and plans for her future. Hilton’s mother Kathy Hilton and sister Rothschild Hilton will support her through it all, from her engagement part to bridal dress shopping to the bachelor and bachelorette party in Las Vegas.

From Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Shed Media, Telepictures and Slivington Manor Entertainment, “Paris in Love” is executive produced by Mike Darnell, Lisa Shannon, Dan Peirson, Bridgette Theriault, Andrea Metz, Perry Dance, Paris Hilton and Bruce Gersh. Watch a trailer for the series below.