Reports of Tippett Studio’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Berkeleyside reported over the weekend that legendary visual effects pioneer Phil […]
That includes a model of the AT-AT Imperial Walker signed by Tippett, pieces from The Haunting, an autographed Hellboy poster and memorabilia from Tippett’s absolutely fucking insane stop-motion masterpiece Mad God.
Tippett himself told Berkeleyside that he’s keeping at least a couple particularly important pieces of memorabilia.
“I’m keeping the Oscars,” Tippett joked, referring to his Academy Awards for Return of the Jedi and Jurassic Park.
The 74-year-old filmmaker also told the outlet that he has personally stepped away from the Hollywood machine.
“I’m retired from the racket,” Tippett said.
But that doesn’t mean the Tippett name is disappearing.
In its new statement, the company explained that maintaining a massive permanent physical space simply doesn’t make sense for its current production needs.
“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 studio explained.
When future projects require stages, fabrication, motion-control photography or other specialized physical infrastructure, Tippett says it will instead work with outside facilities on a project-by-project basis.
“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.”
So, yes, it’s absolutely the end of an era for Tippett Studio in Berkeley.
But it’s not the end of Tippett Studio.