Just when you thought Jar-Jar Binks couldn't possibly be any more annoying: Lucasfilm has announced that the Star Wars films are going 3D. Yes, the latest Hollywood trend seems to have infected the folks over at Lucasfilm, and why not? Seems as if there's been plenty of movies in the last two years that have gotten by simply on the 3D gimmick. (Wait, did I say gimmick? Yeah, I totally did.)
The official word from LucasFilm is that they're doing everything in their power to make sure that the 3D rendering is top-notch. In fact, the official word at StarWars.com from John Knoll, Visual Effects Supervisor for Industrial Light & Magic, reads in a very calming, faith-affirming way:
It takes a critical and artistic eye along with an incredible attention to detail to be successful. It is not something that you can rush if you want to expect good results. For Star Wars we will take our time, applying everything we know both aesthetically and technically to bring audiences a fantastic new Star Wars experience.
And that sounds fine. Sure, we know, they're good at special effects over there at ILM, and hopefully the post-release rendering won't suck. But there was a lot of buzz about the mind-blowing special effects in the prequels and, well, there was a great deal of disappointment there, too. (Disappointment, okay maybe that's a bit gentle: more like childhood-destroying, soul-smashing, hope-extinguishing disappointment. There. Better.)
And which film are they starting with? Why, The Phantom Menace, of course.
