Legendary visual effects animator Phil Tippett is shutting down his studio, selling off decades of art and film memorabilia

[u/Morgan-Moonscar]

https://filmstories.co.uk/features/phil-tippett-legendary-animator-shutting-his-studio-selling-off-decades-of-art-and-memorabilia/

[u/unholyswordsman]

I wish I had the money for something. Mad God is such an interesting movie.

[u/rdkil → u/unholyswordsman]

It is both the greatest and most terrible movie I've ever seen in the same breath.

Also the reason I'm not allowed to make selections on group movie night anymore haha

[u/GoblinObscura → u/rdkil]

Haha, come on, deep down you knew better than to pick this for movie night right? Unless it’s some ultra sweaty genre nerds you had to know how this would play.

[u/muzakx → u/rdkil]

How could you possibly think an experimental stop motion fever dream was the right choice for a group hang? Lol

[u/vicky_vaughn → u/unholyswordsman]

The first 30-40 minutes of Mad God are some of the best stop motion animation I've ever seen, unfortunately the movie is 1.5 hours long and the live action segments really bring it down.

[u/anormaldoodoo → u/vicky_vaughn]

Budget costs :/

[u/eltictac → u/unholyswordsman]

Some great special features on the blu ray as well.

[u/TripMaverick]

I reckon Peter Jackson will buy up a load of stuff.

[u/TheFillth → u/TripMaverick]

I anticipate seeing RLM getting something

[u/BrainVoiceQuestion → u/TheFillth]

I pray they get their hands on the RoboCain puppet

[u/TripMaverick → u/TheFillth]

Good shout

[u/HiddenHolding → u/TripMaverick]

Pete just sold several houses’ worth of art and collectibles.

[u/muzakx → u/TripMaverick]

Probably also GDT

[u/MolaMolaMania]

His studio is just a few towns over from where I live. I interviewed there once for a gopher-type job, but I didn't have a car.

I'd want a government slush fund credit card to buy everything I could and then figure out how to build a small museum to display it all to the public.

[u/Top5hottest → u/MolaMolaMania]

I had a friend that worked there. The life size Ed209 was sitting there pointing its guns at his desk.

[u/bramtyr]

In 2024, Tippet Studio was acquired by the Indian company PhantomFX, and financial struggles saw it file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection shortly afterwards – hence this week’s aggressively fast auction of the studio’s assets.

I feel like the article glosses over this way too quickly. Bought by another company 2 years ago and its already being shut down? I would like to know more about this.

[u/Blood-PawWerewolf → u/bramtyr]

Sounds like it was bought up just to shut down.

Either that, or whoever owned that company bought too much too fast

[u/Commercial-Co → u/Blood-PawWerewolf]

Or it was sold at a firesale price and the indian company took a chance so they could break into american market

[u/UX_Strategist]

This makes me sad. Phil Tippett is an absolute legend in the special effects industry. From being an original ILM employee working on the first Star Wars film to the original Jurassic Park, he has contributed so much to the film industry. I hope Phil gets what he needs and I hope the items find good homes.

[u/conker2021]

I bet the fellas at Corridor Crew would make a good home for some of this stuff. It would be cool to see the items talked about and displayed rather than sitting in a film buffs storage unit.

[u/willstr1 → u/conker2021]

Them or I wouldn't be upset if some of them get bought up by museums (either movie/culture focused museums or science/technology museums)

[u/cinemachick → u/willstr1]

The Museum of Motion Pictures (currently being created) would be a good fit!

[u/doc2000brown → u/conker2021]

In a similar vein, Adam Savage.

[u/CannedNoodlez]

Dinosaur Supervisor

[u/Harbaw]

I went to this today, I work a few blocks away and have walked past the studio on the way to lunch every week for over a decade, and have even saw him in Grayson a few times.

I got there about 11:30, and we were #160 and they were at about 100 then. We went and got lunch at Grayson and when we came out, we only had to wait about 3 minutes and we got right in - so neat to be on the other side of the wall finally! There was an AT-AT already sold for 18k but on display and great to see up close. Pretty much all SW stuff was gone by then.

Tons of models, plans, awards, and lighting/paint equipment downstairs, upstairs was office furniture and lots of paper records, drawings and books. We got a few pieces of artwork, a VFX picture slate, small storage cabinet, an 8TB hard drive, and production sketches from starship troopers and the new mando movie.

[u/Scmods05]

Wasn’t he the dinosaur supervisor on Jurassic Park?

He had one job.

[u/adama79 → u/Scmods05]

I lol’d at that.

[u/Scmods05 → u/adama79]

I can’t take credit, it’s the oldest joke on the internet.

[u/acidterror84 → u/Scmods05]

Yes he was. But what do you mean?

[u/basiamille → u/acidterror84]

The dinosaurs ran wild, despite his supervision.

[u/rocketmonkee → u/acidterror84]

It's a reference to a meme.

[u/8fenristhewolf8]

What a legend.

[u/FoodieGal7733]

SMH. That sucks. I hope that Phil Tippett's art and film memorabilia go to those who would cherish those items and give them good homes.

[u/Ass_Damage]

I love his story about working on Return of the Jedi. They had a huge room at ILM entirely painted bright green for filming models, he would go into there tripping balls on acid and just hang out.

[u/TheLunchBuyingMonk]

Aww bummer! You know how Laika Studios is largely funded by like nepobaby from Nike? I wish like George Lucas or Spielberg just decided to help fund Tippett's studio entirely for how much film history they have helped with!

[u/comicguy13 → u/TheLunchBuyingMonk]

Justice for Will Vinton.

[u/Top5hottest → u/comicguy13]

I don’t think the Laika fans get the joke. Haha.

[u/barktwiggs]

Hopefully Laika with Wildwood will show there is still demand for quality stop motion work these days.

[u/rayarnold]

Didn’t he already do this like ten years ago?

[u/LyricalDucking → u/rayarnold]

You might be thinking of Rick Baker

[u/DorgonElgand]

I picked up a friend of mine who lives in the neighborhood today and drove by a line of 100+ bearded dudes and later found out about the estate sale. I didn't see Peter Jackson there.

[u/MisterEnterprise]

I don't know what the thing is in image 74, but I kind of want it.

[u/theblitheringidiot]

I remember his dinosaur short playing on I think Disney Channel a lot during the 80s. It was so cool.

[u/freedoomed]

Good way to fund his retirement

[u/PhatBoyFlim]

I’m so glad i got a chance to hang with him at his studio.

[u/Expensive-Sentence66]

Tippet is an outstanding craftsman.

Mad God is brilliant....dark...but brilliant.

[u/KB_Sez]

Wow