Flickr user “justinvg” has created a set of minimalist posters for various planets in the Star Wars universe. (I got the tip from Collider, who was directed to Justin’s work via Super Punch.) His page features some pretty incredible non-movie related work as well, so I’d suggest taking a look if you’re into cool Photoshop jobs. These would make excellent desktops for Star Wars fans, so click on over to any of those other sites to check out Justin’s full set.

The 82nd Academy Awards will be held next March and the 15 movies nominated for the Visual Effects Oscar have been revealed. Here they are:

Angels & Demons
Avatar
Coraline
Disney’s A Christmas Caro
District 9
G-Force
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Sherlock Holmes
Star Trek
Terminator Salvation
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
2012
Watchmen
Where the Wild Things Are

In early January the list will be narrowed down to 7, then later in the month members of the visual effects branch will watch excerpts from the movies, and the list will be narrowed down to 3. Earlier this year it was a showdown between Iron Man, The Dark Knight and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, with Button’s ageing effects coming out on top.

Since Avatar Day when we got a glimpse at 15 minutes of footage I’ve had my money on Avatar winning, and from the early reviews it seems it will be a serious contender. I’m glad District 9 got a nod. Out of all the films nominated it had the lowest budget ($30 million) and the guys at WETA did a great job with those financial constraints.

Which visual effects wowed you in 2009? Who do you want to win the Visual Effects Oscar?

A British court has just ruled that Lucasfilm is the sole owner of the Stormtrooper costume designs from Star Wars, not a plastics manufacturer who was hired in 1976 to reproduce designs created by a team of Lucasfilm artists.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Andrew Ainsworth, a principal of Shepperton Design Studios, had claimed he created the designs and reproduced Stormtrooper helmets for sale. Ainsworth had sculpted the helmets for the first “Star Wars” film.

High Court judge Anthony Mann ruled that Ainsworth violated Lucasfilm’s U.S. copyrights by selling the helmets to customers in the U.S.

Mann, however, also ruled that in Britain, the English copyrights for the outfits had expired. Ainsworth’s attorney, Seamus Andrew, said the ruling meant his client can sell the helmets anywhere but in the U.S.

Lucasfilm initially sued Ainsworth in California and obtained a $20 million judgment. However, Mann refused to enforce the judgment in Britain, finding that Ainsworth’s U.S. sales, which totaled $50,000-$60,000, was not significant enough for U.S. jurisdiction.

ComingSoon spoke to DreamWorks Animations CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg on Tuesday and learned that George Lucas is looking to turn the six Star Wars movies into 3D.

Katzenberg told us that Lucas is very excited about it and that he’s got the technical resources to pull it off. “He isn’t going to put a product out, I think, that isn’t anything other than first rate,” Katzenberg said.

There has been talk of other movies being converted into 3D such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Is this another ploy by George Lucas to milk the ‘cow’ that is Star Wars or is this what the fans want?

Update: Apparently he said the same thing in 2005.

Lucas said he hadn’t yet committed to a precise schedule but hoped to have the first film ready for the 30th anniversary of the original Star Wars movie in 2007 and that he would then rerelease one Star Wars film per year in 3-D.

I guess that he got a little ahead of himself back then, but now that we have a good amount of movies being released in 3D, and more 3D screens, it is more likely this will happen.

I stumbled across this masterpiece while surfing the dark side of the internet, on a website far far away…

Directed by Mike Benson. Starring Casey Wrightsman, Geoff Isringhausen, Cory Whetstone, Nick Sibayan, and Eric Miranda.

All credit goes to =hitokirivader who made them.

Every now and again you get some hardcore fan boys trying to recreate their favourite movie and the only thing they gain from it is weird looks and if its on the internet, lots of abuse. However, a film student in Pittsburgh, PA was given the task of recreating any scene from any movie, and the director, an avid Star Wars fan, chose to re-create the “Vader’s Birth” scene from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith…and its rather good.

I will post the video below, and then the actual scene from the film so you can compare.

Tip: Watch them both at the same time!

Film student: