UPDATE, AUG. 30 at 8pm PT:
Tippett Studio took to its official social media accounts Sunday to clarify the current status of its business after founder Phil Tippett announced his retirement and the closure of his company’s Berkeley, California studio. Tippett Studio says that while its Berkeley location is closed, it continues to operate in Canada and is not out of business.
“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,” according to the company’s Instagram post.
“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. 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.”
Our original report follows.
Phil Tippett – the Oscar-winning animator and visual effects supervisor whose dazzling stop-motion animation work appears in the original Star Wars trilogy, 1987’s RoboCop, and Jurassic Park – has announced the closure of his Berkeley, California studio.
Tippett, 74, sold his work – including memorabilia and props – at a two-day auction held this weekend, the artist informed the Berkeleyside news site (via FilmStories).
The items auctioned at the liquidation sale – the result of Tippett Studio’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy – included stop-motion models of AT-ATs from Empire Strikes Back, autographed posters from Jurassic World and The Mandalorian, and much more (click here to view the full gallery of Tippett’s collection).
Phil Tippett at his studio in 2016. (Photo By Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
“I’m retired from the racket,” Tippett said. “My last major project was the Twilight series.”
The pioneering animator was inspired to pursue a career in stop-motion animation after seeing Ray Harryhausen’s The 7th Voyage of Sinbad as a child.
During his four-decade-long film career, Tippett worked for Industrial Light & Magic on the Dejarik game scene in Star Wars: A New Hope, 1981’s Dragonslayer, and 1983’s Return of the Jedi, which won Tippett his first Academy Award for visual effects. He also won for Jurassic Park.
“I’m keeping the Oscars,” Tippett told Berkeleyside.
Phil Tippett’s other film credits include Starship Troopers, The Haunting, Dragonheart, Willow, Howard the Duck, RoboCop 2, and the 2021 film Mad God, which Tippett also directed.