The news broke over the weekend that Oscar Award-winning visual effects artist Phil Tippett’s (Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Starship Troopers, Mad God) Tippett Studio would be shutting down operations, which seemed to be another shot from the industry straight into the head of practical effects and human-made art. But let’s hold that thought for just a second…
It was the website Berkeleyside that originally reported the story that sent us all into a tizzy, but it seems we weren’t being told the full story. Tippett Studio closed out the weekend with an official statement to make one thing perfectly clear: this is NOT the end of the company.
While it’s true that Phil Tippett’s longtime Berkeley facility is indeed being shut down, the full statement makes it clear that Tippett Studio will continue to operate beyond that point.
The statement explains, “We have recently decided to evolve our physical footprint and production approach, and to exit our longtime Berkeley facility. As we make this transition, Tippett Studio continues its visual effects and animation work across film, television and entertainment. Our operations in Canada also continue, including our Toronto studio, which is currently in active production on a large feature film.”
“Stop-motion remains an important part of our creative capabilities, but maintaining a large permanent physical footprint is no longer necessary for our current requirements,” the statement continues. “When projects require dedicated stages, fabrication, motion-control photography or other specialised physical infrastructure, we will work with appropriate external facilities to meet the needs of each production.”
“As we move forward, we remain focused on the work ahead, continuing to collaborate with our clients, creative partners and artists on current and upcoming productions.”
Phil Tippett is the visionary behind some of cinema’s most iconic characters such as Jabba the Hutt and the Rancor Monster in Return of the Jedi, the Tauntauns and Wampa in The Empire Strikes Back, the Raptor and T-Rex stop motion puppets in Jurassic Park, and the ED-209 from RoboCop.
He won an Oscar in 1994 for his work on the original Jurassic Park.
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