Lucasfilm

Federal Judge Forces Apple, Google, Others to Face Antitrust Suit

Arik Hesseldahl in News on April 19 at 2:05 pm PT

A federal judge says there’s enough information that six tech companies had “do-not-cold-call” agreements between them that they have to face an antitrust suite from five software engineers.

News Byte

Lucasfilm Cuts Marin County Out of Its Expansion Plans

John Murrell in News on April 11 at 10:35 am PT

Citing continuing regulatory delays and the vocal opposition of neighbors, Lucasfilm announced Tuesday that after years of planning and investment, it was abandoning its efforts to build a large production studio in Marin County, just north of San Francisco. In a bitterly worded letter that stunned community leaders, the company said there were plenty of other places that “see us as a creative asset, not as an evil empire” and would be happy to take the revenue and jobs. Lucasfilm hopes to sell the land to a developer for low-income housing.

Kabam Acquires Top LucasArts Game Makers to Help Build Hardcore Social Games

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 27 at 12:18 am PT

Kabam, known for developing hardcore social games such as The Godfather and Kingdoms of Camelot, has acquired a company with deep roots in the console game space.

The Secret to Some of Lucasfilm's Magic: Nvidia's GPU Chips

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on March 30, 2011 at 4:45 pm PT

Asked to create a “tornado of fire” for a Harry Potter movie a few years ago, digital artists at Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light and Magic found the techniques they were using not up to the task. Then they discovered graphics chips, and things got very interesting.

A Virtual Tour of the Town of Dirt, from the Animated Film "Rango"

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on March 28, 2011 at 3:30 pm PT

How does a movie director accustomed to working with real actors on physical sets set up scenes that take place in a town that doesn’t exist? You invent a way to visit that place in person, which is exactly what Industrial Light and Magic did for director Gore Verbinski on the animated film “Rango.”

Lucasfilm's Data Center, and an Encounter With the Real Death Star (Video)

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on March 25, 2011 at 11:00 am PT

Yes, the Death Star is real. Luckily it looks nothing like the floating space station of the Star Wars movies. It also no longer runs. But you can find it inside the data center at Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light and Magic.

Meet Kevin Clark, Master Not of the Force, but of Data

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on March 23, 2011 at 5:30 pm PT

He’s not a Jedi, but given the computing challenges he wrestles with every day, he might as well be. Kevin Clark talks about running the IT infrastructure for that nerve center of geekdom, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Industrial Light and Magic.

News Byte

"Star Wars": A New Dimension

Voices in News on September 29, 2010 at 9:33 am PT

The quality of 3-D technology and the number of available venues have finally reached the point where George Lucas is satisfied he can wring a few more zillion dollars out of the “Star Wars” saga. Lucasfilm announced that all six films in the series will be converted–tastefully, of course–to 3-D over an unspecified period of years, starting with the release of “Episode I: The Phantom Menace” in 2012 (the same year James Cameron will raise the “Titanic” gross with a 3-D remake).

Better Stop Holding Your Breath for a Verizon iPhone

John Paczkowski in News on October 19, 2009 at 6:57 am PT

If Verizon is in talks with Apple to become the second U.S. carrier for the iPhone, they evidently aren’t going very well. How else to explain the iPhone-slagging ad campaign for Verizon’s forthcoming Android handset, Droid?

Special D Tab and More to Come

Kara Swisher in News on June 18, 2007 at 1:21 am PT

The Wall Street Journal has a special “D: All Things Digital” tab today, with excerpts from several of the interviews that took place onstage a few weeks ago at our fifth conference. I did a video for it, embedded below. The interviews featured are with famed filmmaker George Lucas, CBS CEO Les Moonves, Time Inc. [...]