Outside the Star Wars Saga and the Raiders of the Lost Ark franchise (in concert with director Steven Spielberg), George Lucas's track record is not consistent. So eyes are on his next production, the World War II epic about the all-black Tuskegee aerial combat unit, Red Tails, which Lucas has been wanting to make for two decades. It finally starts shooting in Europe with a strong ensemble cast including Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Bryan Cranston, Nate Parker and David Oyelowo.

The WWII airplane genre is not necessarily a big audience lure: Tony Bill's $60-million labor of love Flyboys grossed just $13 million stateside when it was released last January by MGM. And Spike Lee's recent World War II epic Miracle at St. Anna, about black soldiers in Italy, did not fare well at the boxoffice for Disney, earning just $7.9 million. And each film grossed little more than $1 million overseas.

Red Tail is produced by Lucasfilm regular Rick McCallum and Charles Floyd Johnson and directed by Anthony Hemingway (The Wire, Battlestar Galactica) and written by John Ridley (Three Kings) from a story by executive producer George Lucas, who wants to "showcase the skill of the Tuskegee pilots,” he said in a statement. “We’re working on techniques which will give us the first true look at the aerial dogfighting of the era.” The air fighting we know Lucas can deliver.

Lucas and Ridley's story has the makings of a strong period actioner. Set in 1944 at the height of World War II, the black pilots of the experimental Tuskegee training program want to fight but are held back by military discrimination. Finally, Pentagon brass are forced to send the Tuskegee pilots into combat. They must provide safe escort to bombers in broad daylight. It's such a dangerous mission that even the Royal Air Force, faced with substantial losses, won't take it on. So the young airmen have much to prove as they take to the skies and show the world what they can do.

[Posted by David S. Cohen]

Industrial Light & Magic is letting out only a few details of its first foray into feature animation, Rango, which it will be animating for Paramount and director Gore Verbinski. ILM president Chrissie England told us it would be "a hybrid, a mix between photorealistic CG visual effects and animation," adding "With Rango we are in the unique position to take advantage of this convergence and do something truly groundbreaking."

Here's a little more on what that means:

[Posted by David S. Cohen]

ComingSoon.net reported a couple of weeks ago that DreamWorks Animation topper Jeffrey Katzenberg confirmed that the Star Wars films are going to be re-released in 3-D. Sometimes that's how these things work with Lucasfilm. There's silence for so long that people forget there hasn't been an actual announcement, and stuff sort of slips out.

That's not exactly news; George Lucas made a big splash at ShoWest 2005 when he appeared onstage to say that he wanted to re-release the Star Wars saga in 3-D. He said so, though, while endorsing the 3-D conversion work of In-Three. In fact, In-Three has a Lucas testimonial page on their website, quoting from Lucas's ShoWest appearance thusly: "one of the reasons I'm promoting it today is I'm extremely anxious to reissue that old group of films I did so long ago in a galaxy far away."

But Thursday's AP interview with the Star Wars mastermind had this:

... he's also looking into re-releasing the six "Star Wars" films using new 3-D technology.

"We're trying to do that," Lucas said. "We worked on some, with a company that was developing the technology a few years ago to convert films into 3-D, we worked with them. But the system works great. It's just not very practical. So what we've been working on since then is to develop a sort of practical way to do it. And we will get there. It's just a technological challenge."

In other words: Sorry, In-Three, we'll take it from here.

Lucas' own Industrial Light & Magic, which of course did the original Star Wars visual effects, did the 3-D conversion of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Once digital 3-D is fully established there could be a brisk business in 3-D conversions of popular library titles and ILM would be ideally situated to cash in. Which fits with Lucas's approach to business: Why pay someone to do the work you want done, when you can get someone else to pay you to do it?

[Posted by David S. Cohen]

The AP has this story about George Lucas and the future of Indiana Jones. Yes, he's still talking about continuing the franchise. Most headlines are about this, which seems to rule out passing the fedora to a new star:

"He is Indiana Jones," Lucas said of (Harrison) Ford. "If Indiana Jones wasn't in it, you'd have to call it 'Mutt Williams and the search for Elvis.' ... "Yeah, it's 'Mutt Williams and the Search for Elvis.'"

Very nice. Presumably it was George who decided to call the character Mutt Williams. So was that his way of making sure there wouldn't a the next-generation Indy? Did he know all along there would be no hand-off to Shia LaBeouf?

Then there's this farther down in the story (emphasis added):

"The franchise really depends on me coming up with a good idea," Lucas said. "And that series is very research-intensive. So we're doing research now to see if we can't come up with another object for him to chase ... hopefully we'll come up with something."

George just seems determined to let everybody know that when it comes to Indy, he is the man. That Spielberg guy? Just a director for hire, I guess.

[Posted by David S. Cohen]

London's TimesOnline, burying its lead in a long, unrevealing puff piece on George Lucas in conjunction with the upcoming release of the new Star Wars: Clone Wars animated movie, puts this near the bottom of the story:

"Really, though, it was a challenge getting the story together and getting everybody to agree on it. Indiana Jones only becomes complicated when you have another two people saying ‘I want it this way’ and ‘I want it that way’, whereas, when I first did Jones, I just said, ‘We’ll do it this way’ — and that was much easier. But now I have to accommodate everybody, because they are all big, successful guys, too, so it’s a little hard on a practical level.

“If I can come up with another idea that they like, we’ll do another. Really, with the last one, Steven wasn’t that enthusiastic. I was trying to persuade him. But now Steve is more amenable to doing another one. Yet we still have the issues about the direction we’d like to take. I’m in the future; Steven’s in the past. He’s trying to drag it back to the way they were, I’m trying to push it to a whole different place. So, still we have a sort of tension. This recent one came out of that. It’s kind of a hybrid of our own two ideas, so we’ll see where we are able to take the next one.”

Ya gotta hand it to George. He's the only guy in the business who can get away with giving an interview to a major newspaper implying 1) Spielberg succeeded with Raiders by taking orders from him; and 2) Spielberg is a nostalgic stick-in-the-mud whom he cajoled into doing another Indiana Jones picture and accepting his forward-thinking ideas.

[Posted by David Cohen]

Yesterday's AP story on George Lucas's Red Tails, which is in pre-production, focused on the Tuskegee Airmen who will be the subject of the film, revealing that John Ridley is writing the script. There's been some speculation that Lucas might be returning to the director's chair.

According to Lucasfilm, Lucas is NOT directing Red Tails. As originally reported by Variety, he is an executive producer, with Rick McCallum and Charles Floyd Johnson producing. (Variety first mentioned the project back in 2006.) Ridley is writing. No other attachments yet, they say.

They have not started talking to distributors and aren't yet talking about their plans for financing. Lucas could pay for the whole thing out of his own pocket and barely miss it, but that doesn't mean he will.

Like so many other projects, they will push production back if there is a SAG strike.

And for those who are asking if a story about World War II airmen facing racism might appeal to a certain Lucas pal named Spielberg, known to have made movies that touch on African-American history and the Second World War now and then, be assured, we checked with Lucasfilm and he's never been involved with the project.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had its world premiere at Cannes at 1 PM May 18; the press anxiously streamed into the Lumiere early, afraid they would be shut out--and many were. Spielberg insisted on holding off so he could show the movie to the world's press all at once, which created additional pressure. Here's Tim Gray in video and in print.

But unlike The Da Vinci Code two years ago, the Cannes press were psyched to see it, whooping and whistling before the screening started. The movie unspooled without the usual Cannes logo. The first hour plays like gangbusters and is really fun. Harrison Ford has Indy down, even as a grizzled "gramps" dealing affectionately with Shia LaBeouf as a 50s greaser with a pompadour.

The answer to the question of whether Indy and Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) spawned a son is answered pretty early on and is just what you'd expect. As a femme viewer, I'd have liked more of the bicker-banter from the first installment. And the movie goes pretty much where you expect it to go--the ending is bombastic and pixilated, even if most of the fast-moving stunts are as live as Spielberg could make them. The film is directed with expert, Spielbergian precision and panache. All of the cast were fine, but I particularly enjoyed Ford and his fearsome nemesis, Cate Blanchett as a Elsa Klench Rosa Klebb-style Russian Colonel.

UPDATE: Many press left the movie early so that they could get into the press conference, where Spielberg said he was happy to come back to Cannes for the first time since E.T. in 1982, and that E.T. and Indy were the only films the fans kept asking him to do sequels to. He was the last one in, he admitted, after George Lucas and Harrison Ford, but only after the last script came in and made him see the movie that could be.

Indy 4 movie will do blockbuster boxoffice, and whatever critical brickbats are still to come, the media clapped and was polite at the press conference, which I live-streamed with a qik phone and should be somewhere on variety.com/cannes:

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Here's Todd McCarthy's review and Greencine's early reactions. UPDATE: Here's A.P. and Reuters.

I saw it coming. Ever since Paramount announced that Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Kingdom of the Crystal Skull would not screen for anyone before its May 18 unveiling at Cannes (in advance of its worldwide launch May 22), I felt that Spielberg and Co. might be setting themselves up. The anticipation of this film is too great, the pressure for information is wrecking havoc on the internet. As the NYT reports, several exhibitor screenings have added to the din surrounding this film. So far the PR strategy has been to dole out interviews to press who have not yet seen it; Vanity Fair, EW, the LAT and others have played ball.

And at Cannes, select press are being invited to do interviews before the official press screening at 1 PM on May 18. This will add more pressure to the press conference that day. UPDATE: Paramount is also not throwing a party, instead sticking to a small exclusive film dinner. That's not winning them any popularity contests.

Sony learned the hard way the power of a roomful of 4000 critics waiting to find a movie wanting at Cannes with the Da Vinci Code. Moviegoers ignored their complaints and made the film a worldwide blockbuster. But the filmmakers had hoped to score a prestige win at Cannes. Ron Howard and Brian Grazer left Cannes with their egos badly bruised.

Spielberg, who is staying in one of the big yachts in the harbor, may be hoping to return to the site of his early career triumphs with Sugarland Express and E.T., which was such a huge smash at Cannes that it burnished Spielberg's profile as a star director with a special place in filmgoers' hearts. Indiana Jones is a favorite franchise returning after 18 years. It may fulfill all that is hoped for; it will certainly score a huge global opening. That's not the issue. It will be fascinating to see if Cannes gives back to Spielberg what he may be hoping to get from it.

If the audience skews older, as I suspect it will, I wonder if Paramount might not have lured more of the key younger demo by waiting to open the film after they get out of school. It's early summer days yet.

The official schedule for the Cannes Film Festival will be available online as of May 10. Here's the sked for Indy 4:

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL Out of Competition (USA)

Press screening: Sunday 18 May / 1.00pm / Grand Théâtre Lumière

Photo-call: Sunday 18 May / 3.00pm / Palais des Festivals

Press conference: Sunday 18 May / 3.30pm / Palais des Festivals

Official screening: Sunday 18 May / 7.30pm / Grand Théâtre Lumière

Film-team:
Steven Spielberg / director
Harrison Ford / actor
Shia LeBeouf / actor
Karen Allen / actor
Cate Blanchett / actor
Ray Winstone / actor
John Hurt / actor
Jim Broadbent / actor
George Lucas / producer
Frank Marshall / producer
Kathleen Kennedy / producer

Running time: 125 minutes

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL will be released worldwide by Paramount Pictures.

Cannes has announced its classics program, including Richard Schickel's tribute to Warner Bros., narrated by in-house star/director/producer Clint Eastwood. Early buzz on Cannes competition entry Changeling (Universal), a mystery Eastwood directed from TV writer-turned-screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski's script based on real events unfolding in the 20s, is quite good.

Don't believe anything you read about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull based on people who have actually seen it because as far as I know, Steven Spielberg has only shown it to the Cannes Film Festival (read Todd McCarthy's story here). Yes, the movie will show in Cannes, as we initially reported, on May 18. It will screen in the states that same day, just before its global opening May 22. There will be no junket. (Jeffrey Katzenberg will also debut Kung Fu Panda in Cannes, on May 15, in the traditional DreamWorks Animation slot.)

Jeffrey Wells' source for Indiana Jones being 140 minutes is impeccable, he says: composer John Williams. Besides, Spielberg's films have been running long lately. Terminal ran over two hours at 128 minutes; Catch Me If You Can was 141 minutes; and Munich was 164 minutes long. So at least he's going backwards! Slashfilm reports the running times on the Indy films-- "Previous installments ran 115, 118, 127 minutes respectively (and in order from Raiders to Last Crusade)." UPDATE: Wells has run a correction. Producer Frank Marshall has informed Paramount that the movie is just over two hours, including credits.

This amazingly speculative Indy 4 blog post from New York's Vulture fancifully cobbles together the mere suggestion that George Lucas is downplaying the movie, so it must be as bad as Star Wars: Episode 1--The Phantom Menace. This inspires the idea that Shia LaBeouf will prove to be Indy's Jar Jar Binks! Jesus. A headline in search of a story.

By comparison, this item at CHUD is based on actual reporting. The advance buzz on Indy is getting damaging enough that Lucas and Spielberg may want to reconsider the current strategy of waiting until May 18 to show the film to everyone at once. That's a long way off.

Remember, all the controlling behavior on Munich PR only backfired. Spielberg has an old-fashioned view of marketing. He doesn't like how fast-moving everything is now. Saving up for the big reveal can backfire in a huge way, as last year's The Da Vinci Code proved at Cannes. (At least Indy 4 is not slated for opening night.) In other words, you better have the goods. UPDATE: EW talks to Lucas and Spielberg about their take on all things Indy.

Every year ShoWest screens an honor reel of movies that grossed over $100-million the year before. Which of the 2008 ShoWest promo pics will be on next year's reel?

Based on what I saw and reactions gleaned, here's my best guess:

Movie that could pass $300 million: the sequel The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, which will likely improve on its predecessor with more action and more mature protagonists.

Movies that could go well past $200 million: sequels The Dark Knight, starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, starring Harrison Ford and Shia LeBeouf, Rob Cohen's China-shot Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, starring Brendan Fraser, Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, and Guillermo del Toro's epic-scale actioner Hellboy II: The Golden Army; plus non-sequels Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman as assassins training rookie James McAvoy, the invulnerable Will Smith as a homeless hero in Hancock, Judd Apatow's dumb male comedy Step Brothers, starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, Marvel's Iron Man, which boasts femme appeal via Robert Downey Jr. and co-star Gwenyth Paltrow, and animated family originals Kung Fu Panda (DreamWorks Animation) and Wall-E (Disney/Pixar).

Movies that could break $100 million: a remake of Marvel's The Incredible Hulk, starring Edward Norton as a thinking man's Bruce Banner; for the femme audience, a remake of the HBO classic Sex and the City, a remake of the boomer TV show Get Smart, starring Steve Carell and Ann Hathaway, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's surrogate nightmare comedy Baby Mama, and a movie version of the Broadway musical Mamma Mia (also for musical fans); Judd Apatow factory comedies Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Pineapple Express; Ben Stiller's starry R-rated action comedy Tropic Thunder, starring Stiller, Downey, Jack Black and Steve Coogan; the frere Wachowski's adaptation of the anime classic Speed Racer, starring Emile Hirsch and Christina Ricci; and George Lucas's animated sequel Star Wars: The Clone Wars. (Am I the only one who feels a shock that the film is going out through Warners? Even though Lucasfilm controls and markets the movies and collects the lions' share of the take, I feel like all Star Wars movies are supposed to have the Fox fanfare in front of them.)

What if Saul Bass had designed the credits for Star Wars? (Here's his Vertigo credit sequence.)

Here's the credit sequence for Martin Scorsese's Casino:

It's no surprise that on May 13, just days before the opening of Indy 4 on summer screens, Lucasfilm and Paramount Home Entertainment will release all three Indiana Jones pics as special edition individual DVDs in a new box set. The Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) special editions boast new bonus features delving into the making of these classics and showcasing the characters, action and VFX.

All three films were originally restored and remastered in 2003. Directed by Steven Spielberg from stories by exec producer George Lucas, the three Indiana Jones movies earned six Oscars and nearly $1.2 billion worldwide. Previously available only in a trilogy box set, the three Indy Jones adventures were restored and remastered with new bonus content from Spielberg, Lucas and others who also hint about what to expect in the new installment.

The NYT breathlessly details the success of the Indy 4 trailer online. Lucasfilm and Paramount are pushing the pic on a younger generation. Boomers are already hyped.

More details on the discs are on the jump:

Word is, Steven Spielberg and his cast will unveil the new Indy installment at the Cannes Palais four days before it opens worldwide.

I'm as fond of the Indiana Jones franchise as anyone, and Harrison Ford making fun of his age when he is obviously in superb condition could be a fun running gag for boomers like me. But Lucas and Spielberg are smart enough to know that you have to throw in some new stuff to keep a series like this alive. Bringing back Karen Allen and adding Shia LaBeouf, Ray Winstone and Cate Blanchett is a good start, but....

Tis the season for previews of 2008.

Here's this weekend's annual LAT sneak preview of 2008.

Reelz Channel.

Jeff Sneider.

The Vanity Fair cover story on Indy 4, plus follow-up blog.

[Vanity Fair photo by Annie Leibovitz.]

Slashfilm posts a nifty collection of 30 years of Lucasfilm Christmas cards.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Bruce Willis, Michael Moore, Joss Whedon, Peter Jackson, Kevin Smith, Zach Braff, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have all figured out that talking directly to the fans sells movie tickets.

Here's Michael Moore's infamous rant against CNN's Wolf Blitzer and medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta. In case you missed any of his many recent media appearances, he has helpfully posted them all on YouTube.

UPDATE: MichaelMoore.com">Moore's 7/14 Letter to CNN is on the jump:

He's very good in Transformers. And Harrison Ford is passing the torch to the next generation in Indiana Jones 4. Here's our next every man boy star: Shia LaBeouf. I hope Hollywood doesn't spoil him too much. You have to have a good head on your shoulders to stay above the madness.

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have announced official casting on Indy Jones 4 directly via the movie's website. Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone and John Hurt will join Harrison Ford and Shia LaBeouf in the sequel which is set to open on May 22, 2008.

Where's Sean Connery? Lucas was holding out hope that he could lure him with the latest script last time I spoke to him at April's San Francisco Film Festival. Connery must have held out for too much money. Here's how they handle it in the release:

While the man with the hat is back, this time he's not bringing his Dad. Sean Connery, who retired from acting in 2005, said:

"I get asked the question so often, I thought it best to make an announcement. I thought long and hard about it and if anything could have pulled me out of retirement it would have been an Indiana Jones film. I love working with Steven and George, and it goes without saying that it is an honor to have Harrison as my son. But in the end, retirement is just too damned much fun. I, do however, have one bit of advice for Junior: Demand that the critters be digital, the cliffs be low, and for goodness sake keep that whip by your side at all times in case you need to escape from the stunt coordinator! This is a remarkable cast, and I can only say, 'Break a leg, everyone.' I'll see you on May 22, 2008 at the theater!"

Officially retired eh? I guess at age 76 that's allowed.

I went up to SF last week with some Variety folks for a meeting at Lucasfilm's Presidio digs, complete with tour. We pulled up at the Letterman Digital Art Center on a gorgeous sunny spring day. The new white buildings fit into the rolling landscape as if they belonged there; George Lucas brought over the same Mission vibe that he had at the Mill Valley Skywalker Ranch. The big new 35 mm/Christie 2K screening room, which holds 296 removeable seats and a computer hook-up, was stunning too. (There are two smaller ones and seven "view stations" as well.) We watched a cool history timeline of ILM FX, from 1977's Star Wars through Willow, The Abyss, T2, and Jurassic Park to particle effects in Twister and the wave in Perfect Storm, as well as some trailers for ILM's summer tentpole trifecta Pirates 3, Transformers (a scary one) and Evan Almighty, which actually looks funny. (Davy Jones' eyes in Pirates 2? CGI.) The Letterman conference room boasts a stunning view of the Golden Gate Bridge. And a guy named Kevin Woolley actually invented the motion capture suit with dots! The floors are raised 18 inches with fiberoptic cables running under them. The cafeteria boasts a sushi chef and a pizza oven.

Tooling around the place, I'd seen many of the model displays (Han Solo's blaster, Luke Skywalker's light saber) and posters from key ILM FX movies on my last tour of Skywalker, but I was BLOWN AWAY by Lucas's poster collection. Amazing stuff. All over the hallways, the cafeteria, inside Lucas's own office suites. I asked Lucas about the posters at the premiere party before the Sunday night San Francisco Film Fest premiere of a documentary financed by Lucas, Fog City Mavericks, which Starz has picked up. "I have a lot of posters," Lucas admits. Some 50 have been on display at Skywalker and Big Rock Ranch. He has been picking them out himself for 30 years. "I'm the only one who knows what I've got." But when Lucasfilm and ILM made the move to the Presidio, he got more of his favorites framed and hung. He has dealers who find stuff for him to choose from. Many of the big-size greats are from overseas. My favorites: huge French posters of Marlon Brando in L'Equipee Sauvage (The Wild One), and Humphrey Bogart in Plus Dire Sera la Chute (The Harder They Fall).

At the party I got a kick out of watching Lucas, Robin Williams, John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Staunton and Brad Bird whooping it up and making each other laugh. (Coppola was on a wine tour.) "I'm a big proponent of regional filmmaking," Lucas told me. (He told me that for the first time when I interviewed him for Film Comment in 1981 for Raiders of the Lost Ark.) He's still chasing Sean Connery, by the way, for Indy 4--just sent him a new script.

Gary Leva's Fog City Mavericks boasts terrific interviews with the likes of Lasseter, Walter Murch, Matthew Robbins, and Caleb Deschanel, and goes into too-laudatory detail about Lucas, Francis Coppola and Chris Columbus, but neglects snarkier folks like Wayne Wang and Terry Zwigoff. (I couldn't quite wrap my head around the inclusion of Clint Eastwood, whom I admire as much as anyone, but he just doesn't fit into any Bay Area grouping, based as he is in Hollywood and Carmel, which is some 90 miles down the coast from SF.) I enjoyed the historical background on Edward Muybridge (inventor of the zoopraxiscope) and Charlie Chaplin, but could have used a lot less of declamatory hyperbole from narrator Peter Coyote, who makes a lot of proclamations like, "Coppola was a genius!" Jeez. Pixar's Lasseter and Bird are great in the movie, but the best filmmaker arc--which the audience really ate up, too--was producer Saul Zaentz, who consistently threw his money on the line to make a string of top-notch movies that hold up quite well--One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, The Mosquito Coast, The English Patient. As Anthony Minghella says in the film, Zaentz's movies "have not gone through a machine."

Neither have Lucas's, I might add. Will he ever make that independent alternative movie that he has long threatened to direct? After all, he says he was most influenced by Fellini, Kurosawa and Godard. "I get distracted," he says. If Coppola has gone back to being a student filmmaker, why not George?

Lucas and his team are moving toward May 25, the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. I'll be in Cannes, but there's a lot going on:

A list of upcoming Lucas events is on the jump: