April 10, 2023

A Swamp Thing full of Star Wars News

A Swamp Thing full of Star Wars News

Tonight! It's raining, figuratively,  news from Star Wars Celebration, news about a new Star Trek series in the works, news about a new Swamp Thing movie, and much much more. Plus, we remember writer Rachel Pollack, award-winning cinematographer  Bill Butler and   two-time Oscar-winning production and art designer Norman Reynolds,

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Transcript

Tonight! Swamp Thing finds a writer, Fantastic Four has a writer, Starfleet Academy has a show, and Star Wars has a ton of news and a few remembrances. All that and more on this edition of Multiverse Tonight!


One Month till Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

Tease the upcoming podcast project with Rick Stasi.

Mention if you find value in the show, to donate at Multiverse Tonight dot com


DC

Swamp Thing is going to be a movie thing, Speaking to Collider, director James Mangold confirmed that he is penning Swamp Thing, a project that he is developing simultaneously with his untitled Star Wars film.


Mangold said."We'll see what comes to fruition first. The truth is, I'm writing both right now,"  "Who knows what is going to happen and what is going to blossom first or second? I'm acknowledging that I'm doing Swamp Thing. It can all happen, it just takes time."


Gunn responded to this news, noting Mangold was "one of the first people" he spoke with about "writing and directing his passion project," that being Swamp Thing.


Warner Bros. has shifted the release date of DC's Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, moving the James Wan-directed sequel up from its previously announced December 25th date. Aquaman 2 will now surface in theaters nearly a week earlier on December 20th, moving from Christmas Day Monday to a mid-week Wednesday opening. Director Blitz Bazawule's musical remake of The Color Purple, previously scheduled for Dec. 20th, has been swapped for Aquaman's spot on Dec. 25th.


Marvel

Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen has signed on for Deadpool 3, according to Deadline.com

Reps for Macfadyen and Marvel Studios had no immediate comment on the matter. It was reported in December that production on the third “Deadpool” will commence in May.


The MCU’s Fantastic Four Movie has gotten a new writer, Avatar 2 scribe Josh Friedman. Matt Shakman, who was the key director behind the Marvel series WandaVision, is on board to helm the feature that has a release date of Feb. 14, 2025, and is set to kick off Phase 6 of its storytelling universe.


Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer were the previous writers on the project, and Friedman’s hire signals a potential change in tone. Kaplan and Springer are newcomer scribes known for their comedy scripts. Among the works they have in development are the Rebel comedy K-Pop: Lost in America and Disaster Wedding.

Friedman, on the other hand, is a veteran of the sci-fi genre. He co-wrote the Tom Cruise version of War of the Worlds,, and then acted as the writer-creator of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, . Years later, he would return to work on 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate and was one of the writers James Cameron turned to for help in world-building and crafting stories for his multi-movie Avatar franchise.



 Star Trek

“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” has been renewed for Season 3 while “Star Trek: Lower Decks” has been renewed for Season 5 at Paramount+.


The new seasons of both shows will consist of 10 episodes. In addition, Season 2 of “Strange New Worlds” and Season 4 of “Lower Decks” will both debut this summer. “Strange New Worlds” Season 2 will premiere on June 15 on Paramount+ in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. “Lower Decks” will return in late summer, but an exact date has yet to be announced.


Also, Season 2 of the Nickelodeon animated series “Star Trek: Prodigy” is set to air in winter of 2023. It was previously announced that “Strange New Worlds” and “Lower Decks” will crossover with their upcoming seasons. The episode will air during Season 2 of “Strange New Worlds” and will feature both live-action and animation. “Lower Decks” stars Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid will appear in the episode.


To top off the news of the new continuing Trek series is news of a brand new Trek series and it’s a contempt that‘s been batted around for decades, Star Trek Starfleet Academy. According to the official press release quote .Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will introduce us to a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they will discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves, and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself. Unquote Alex Kurtzman will be co-showrunner alongside Noga Landau (creator of CW’s Nancy Drew and writer on Syfy’s The Magicians). Together they have made the following joint announcement:


“Admission is now open to Starfleet Academy! Explore the galaxy! Captain your destiny! For the first time in over a century, our campus will be re-opened to admit individuals a minimum of 16 Earth years (or species equivalent) who dream of exceeding their physical, mental and spiritual limits, who value friendship, camaraderie, honor and devotion to a cause greater than themselves. The coursework will be rigorous, the instructors among the brightest lights in their respective fields, and those accepted will live and study side-by-side with the most diverse population of students ever admitted. Today we encourage all who share our dreams, goals and values to join a new generation of visionary cadets as they take their first steps toward creating a bright future for us all. Apply today! Ex Astris, Scientia!”


Alongside Kurtzman and Landau, the Academy show will be executive produced by Gaia Violo (creator of the Prime Video thriller Absentia), who also wrote the series premiere episode. Also executive producing are Aaron Baiers, Jenny Lumet, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Frank Siracusa, and John Weber. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will be produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment.



Star Wars

Star Wars fans have been waiting since 2019's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker for the franchise to return to the big screen, and Star Wars Celebration has finally confirmed that return will happen with three films directed by James Mangold, Dave Filoni, and Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy.


James Mangold, the director of Logan and the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, will create a film that "will go back to the dawn of the Jedi."


Dave Filoni's film will "focus on the New Republic" and is a big deal as Filoni has been an integral part of Star Wars for many years and this will be his first live-action film. Among many other things, Filoni was the creator of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, an executive producer, episodic director, and writer on The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, and is the creator and executive producer on Ahsoka.


Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, the Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning director behind such projects as Ms. Marvel and Saving Face, will lead a film "set after the events of Rise of Skywalker" that will "feature Daisy Ridley back as Rey as she builds a new Jedi Order." The new movie is set 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. In this new movie directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Rey will attempt to rebuild the Jedi Order as a Jedi Master.


And what of Taikia Wattis movie? We did get a brief update from Kathleen Keneddy "Taika is still working away," "He's writing the script himself. He doesn't really want to bring others into that process and I don't blame him. He has a very, very unique voice. So we want to protect that and that's what he's doing. But we're going to make that one day."


Star Wars: Ahsoka will officially be released on Disney+ in August 2023, at Star Wars Celebration the official trailer for the much-anticipated series was released. Furthermore, a second season was hinted at.


Rosario Dawson said "If this does well, maybe we'll get a second season,"  "It's up to y'all. I'm ready if you are."


The trailer was an action-packed one that saw the return of Star Wars: Rebels characters, including Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), and Chopper. 


While we didn't get to see him in full, we did get our first glimpse of live-action Grand Admiral Thrawn.


"I started hearing whispers about Thrawn's return," Ahsoka said. "as heir to the Empire."


News also cam out that David Tennant and Lars Mikkelsen have joined Lucasfilm's upcoming Ahsoka series. The news was confirmed this morning on stage at Star Wars Celebration in London, where series creators Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau appeared alongside series lead Rosario Dawson. 




Star Wars: The Acolyte, the upcoming Disney+ series set during the end of the High Republic era, will make its way to Disney+ in 2024. While we weren't given an exact date, the cast and crew behind the series showed up at Star Wars Celebration to share a few details as to what fans can expect.


Star Wars: Acolyte's series creator Leslye Headland shared that she had always wanted to "delve into the Star Wars universe and tell the story of this entire world that I loved so much from the perspective of the bad guys."


"What I pitched to Kathleen Kennedy was Frozen meets Kill Bill. Shockingly, she didn’t kick me out of the building," "It's High Republic near the beginning of the prequels and an exciting part of the timeline. This is when the bad guys are outnumbered. They are the underdogs. I’m really excited for you guys to see things you haven’t seen in live action yet.”


She also noted it was "the furthest back in time we've been in live action," and that there will be "lots of Jedi." At least one of these Jedi will be a wookiee played by Chewbacca actor Joonas Suotamo, as it's always been a dream of Headland to tell the story of one.


Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is an upcoming Disney+ series that is set to arrive in 2023. Star Wars Celebration has yet to reveal an exact date, but it did share the first trailer.


The trailer for Skeleton Crew, which stars Jude Law and is focused on a younger cast of characters, honed in very much on the show's Goonies inspirations. This was shown with kids in class, going through a residential area, running through a forest, and much more.


Lucasfilm also confirmed the directors for the series, including Jon Watts, David Lowery, The Daniels, Jake Schreier, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Lee Isaac Chung.





While we didn't get an exact date as to when Andor Season 2 will arrive on Disney+, series creator Tony Gilroy has confirmed the team is planning on having it ready for an August 2024 premiere date on Disney+.


Gilroy said“We started shooting in November,". "We’re about halfway through. We’re going to shoot through August. We’re on the exact schedule. Finish in August, spend another year on post. I suppose we'll come out the following August."


Diego Luna, who’s currently filming the final season of the Disney+ series in London, opened up about the experience on Friday at the Miami Film Festival, where he accepted Variety’s inaugural Virtuoso Award.


Luna said“It’s been bittersweet because every day I know I’m a day closer to the end,” . “It was really nice to approach a series knowing there’s an ending. It doesn’t happen! The new conversation on set with streaming is people talking about the possible future… Like, ‘Well, there might be a second season or a third season. This thing of leaving everything open I think is bringing anxiety to actors that needs to be treated. We’re all thinking about something that we can’t know.”


Luckily, that’s not the case for “Andor,” a prequel to the 2016 film, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”


“The second season ends where ‘Rogue One’ starts. We’re not changing the ending of ‘Rogue One’ so that’s it. It’s a nice feeling, it’s like a long film… It has a beginning and an end. We all know what’s going to happen,” he said. “There’s something interesting with the second season, which is that I have a different feeling every day I go to set. Now I know, not just that the series was well received and that people liked it, but I know why they liked it. That’s another tool we have these days through social media. We actually listen to audiences and critics. We understand what things connected and what didn’t connect. It’s kind of cool to have an opportunity to go and execute another season having this information. It’s, in a way, a season that will end up representing the audience in a different way. Somehow, the audience is part of this season because the interaction we had served as inspiration.”


Season 2 will be the end of the road for Cassian Andor and creator Tony Gilroy has stated that this is his last “Star Wars” project. However, there could be a different role in the “Star Wars” universe in the future for Luna — possibly as a director.


“You’ll have to ask someone who can actually give me that job, otherwise we’re just talking fantasy. That’s another galaxy, I don’t know how far away it is. I like directing. I can tell you one thing, the next thing I’m doing after this is directing,” he said. “When ‘Rogue One’ ended, my daughter said, ‘Is that it? You’re dead!’ I was like, yeah that’s it… I do film, it always has a beginning and end. And then I went on to do two seasons of a TV show, a prequel, so who knows! I don’t like thinking too far ahead.”


Tales of the Jedi cocreator Dave Filoni is using the Force to bring us a second season.


Filoni confirmed that there will be a second season of the animated series during the 15th-anniversary panel for Star Wars: The Clone Wars at the Star Wars 2023 Celebration.


“Tales of the Jedi was so fun the first time,” said Filoni, “I did some more.” There were no other details revealed about the upcoming series.


The original season last year covered the lives of Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku, each covered in three-episode arcs.


Geek

The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth now has a release date with Capital Games and Electronic Arts announcing this week that the new take on Middle-earth will be out on May 10th. When it launches, it'll be playable on both iOS and Android devices with preregistration for the game opened now ahead of that release.


It's got a story and PvP mode primarily with different characters built out from the larger Lord of the Rings mythos. It does seem to take some liberties with the world though with its story centered around how the player discovers "a mysteriously abandoned new Ring of Power," according to a press release about the game, but that at least sounds like it'll have the potential to take the story in different places.

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Whip-cracking time will be upon moviegoers once again when the first Indiana Jones movie in decades opens in late June.


And collectors and enthusiasts will be able to get their hands on Indiana Jones figures for the first time in decades as well since Hasbro is putting forth toys that will accompany Indy’s return.


At London’s Star Wars Celebration, Hasbro unveiled new additions to its Indiana Jones Adventure Series line, an upscale set of products akin to its very popular Star Wars Black Series.


While it already has figures based on characters from the original Raiders of the Lost Ark film from 1981, the new additions are based on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the James Mangold-directed installment that hits theaters June 30.


The figures revealed were of older Indy, played by Harrison Ford, and Helena Shaw, Indy’s goddaughter played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge.


The Indy figure will come with a detachable backpack, satchel, coiled whip, flashlight accessories and a “build an artifact” piece, the latter being a chase piece that will assemble a larger item, the Skull Temple.


The Shaw figure will include a detachable backpack, flashlight accessories and a “build an artifact” piece.


The figures will retail for $24.99 but won’t be available until Fall. Enthusiasts, however, will be able to pre-order starting April 13 at 10 a.m. PT on Hasbro Pulse and through other retailers.


The figures join other Adventure Series figures such as Marion Revenwood, Ceremonial Rene Belloq and Sallah, which will be hitting stores later this spring. Hasbro also has a retro collection that brings back the original line of action figures that was put out by Kenner in the early 1980s.

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Disney is back at it making more live action versions of it’s hit animated movies, First off, Disney has announced that it found it’s Lilo for the live action Lilo and Stitch movie. Newcomer Maia Kealoha will play the child how finds an alien in Hawaii, The Hawaii-centric story tells of the bond formed between a lonely human girl named Lilo and a dog-like alien named Stitch, who was genetically engineered to be a force of destruction. With nosy social workers and pursuing aliens banging on the door, the two bond over a shared sense of family and win the day. Zach Galifianakis joined the cast in February. Stitch, naturally, will be a CG confection.


We also got news this past week from Dwayne “The Rock”  Johnson itself.https://youtu.be/EULrirHbNR4


Dwayne will of course be back as Maui and He will produce via his Seven Bucks Productions along with Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia. Beau Flynn produces via Flynn Picture Co. Jared Bush, who wrote the screenplay for the original movie, is back to write the remake, along with Dana Ledoux Miller. No director is involved at this stage of development.


Warner Bros. has made several high-profile changes and additions to its release calendar, including announcing that Jason Momoa Minecraft movie will hit theaters on April 4, 2025.


Napoleon Dynamite filmmaker Jared Hess is directing the big screen adaptation of the popular video game. Dune producer Mary Parent and Roy Lee will produce, with Jill Messick receiving a posthumous producing credit for developing the film before her death in 2018. Executive producers include Jon Berg, Cale Boyter and Jon Spaihts.


Warner Bros. also revealed it is unscheduling its Wizard of Oz animated film Toto. The pic had been set to open on Feb. 2, 2024. Barry Levinson’s The Wise Guys, starring Robert DeNiro, is instead taking that date. Debra Messing and Kathrine Narducci also star in Wise Guys.


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We are getting a fifth Shrek movie. In a press tour stop at Variety for the Super Mario Movie, Illumination head Chris Melandri told them “It’s not that dissimilar to the process that we went through with ‘Mario,’ where you look at what the core elements are that audiences have loved, and you do your very best to honor those core elements,” Meledandri said. “And then you’re hard at work to build story elements and new characters that take you to brand new places. The original cast is a huge part of that.”


Though no deals are in place, he said negotiations with the actors are going well. “We anticipate the cast coming back. Talks are starting now, and every indication that we’ve gotten is there’s tremendous enthusiasm on behalf of the actors to return,” he said.


And Meledandri has good reason to be optimistic. Following the success of the 2022 “Shrek” spinoff sequel “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” Eddie Murphy said in January, “If [DreamWorks] ever came with another ‘Shrek,’ I’d do it in two seconds. I love Donkey. They did ‘Puss in Boots’ movies. I was like, ‘They should have done a Donkey movie.’ Donkey is funnier than Puss in Boots. I mean, I love Puss in Boots, but he ain’t funny as the Donkey.”


Meledandri said he was “thrilled” when he read Murphy’s comments, adding, “It’s evidence of his strong enthusiasm for a role that he so brilliantly inhabited and really created alongside the artists at DreamWorks. I found that comment to be very exciting.”


When asked if he thought Donkey was a character that could support its own film, similar to the fighting feline spinoffs starring Antonio Banderas, Meledandri answered, “Without question.”


Throughout his in-depth Variety interview, Meledandri also teased the other animated projects Illumination is cooking up. He’s looking for a fresh way to return to the world of dogs, cats, goldfish and all other forms of domesticated animals.


“We’re developing a couple of scripts in ‘The Secret Life of Pets’ world,” he said. “While we’re not ready yet to start a film, we’re absolutely continuing to develop in that franchise.”


So what would a possible “Secret Life of Pets 3” look like?


“One of the stories that we’re developing involves one primary character from the first two films, but introduces a new set of characters,” Meledandri added. “And then another story that we’re developing is the ensemble. So we’re looking at it from different angles.”


And Meledandri is also “deep into development” on “Sing 3,” a new installment of his hit series about a group of animals competing in a talent competition. “It will involve characters from the original cast, but it will take us into a new world,” he said.


“Sing 2” generated more than $400 million at the box office, but it had the misfortune to debut as the omicron COVID variant was spreading wildly, which depressed ticket sales. However, Meledandri says the film was a streaming smash. The sequel was the third highest-streamed movie overall in the U.S. in 2022 and was streamed over 80 million times on Netflix.


“We don’t just look at box office,” Meledandri says of the decision to make more “Sing” films. “We gauge the audience response in different ways. The streaming success of ‘Sing 2’ signals that fans want to stay in this world with these characters.”


And while little is known about “Migration,” other than it’s written by “The White Lotus” creator Mike White and directed by “Ernest and Celestine’s” Benjamin Renner, audiences at “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” will be among the first to get a look at what Illumination has in store. A trailer for the film will be released alongside the studio’s Nintendo adventure.


“It represents Illumination’s ongoing commitment to telling original stories, which I think is absolutely essential to culture,” Meledandri said.


In “Migration,” the family of ducks finds themselves at odds. With the weather warming, the father in the family wants to remain safe and comfortable in their pond in New England, while the wife wants them to explore the wider wold.


“The film is very beautiful and has a painterly quality that is quite different from anything we’ve done at Illumination,” Meledandri said. “The story is told with humor and heart. It’s a remarkably human story with characters who are very relatable and end up wrestling with issues that we all understand, even though they are ducks. And their qualities as ducks are incredibly well executed, from the smallest detail on a feather to their movements and their flight. So it’s a movie that transports you into this world up in the sky, but at the same time it’s very true to who we are.”


And Meledandri isn’t just sticking to movies. Illumination has teamed with Pierre Coffin, the writer and director of the “Despicable Me” films, on two short series that will premiere on TikTok in May before going to YouTube. One, “Who’s Who,” is set in the world of Minions, while the other, “Bones Story,” tells a wholly original tale.


“We like to follow the creativity of our team,” Meledandri said. “This is something Pierre wants to do and it’s exciting to experiment in serialized storytelling.”



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At close to 10PM PST last night, we told you that Illumination/Universal’s Super Mario Bros was still raking in business. As of this morning, the feature take of the Nintendo game didn’t gross $56M, rather a near $57M, for what is now a $146.36M 3-day, massive $33,1K theater average, and a record 5-day of –wow– $204.6M, per Universal this AM. That kicks Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen‘s $200M Wednesday-Sunday opening to second place among 5-day U.S./Canada records.


Among Easter weekend openings, Super Mario Bros ranks third behind 2016’s Batman vs. Superman ($181M) and 2015’s Furious 7‘s $161M. If overseas is still at $173M by tomorrow AM, then the new global opening record for an animated movie set by Super Mario Bros stands at $377.2M.







Bill Butler, the award-winning cinematographer known for his work on Jaws and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, has passed away at the age of 101. The news was broken in a statement from the American Society of Cinematographers, who revealed that Butler died on the evening of Wednesday, April 5th in Los Angeles. He is survived by his wife, Iris, and five daughters. His career also includes Grease, Child's Play, Anaconda, and the second, third, and fourth Rocky installments. 


Born on April 7, 1921 in Cripple Creek, Colorado, Butler first got into the industry as a radio station engineer in Gary, Indiana. He later helped design and build Chicago's ABC and WGN stations, which led to him meeting and getting a job from director William Friedkin. He broke into cinematography with Friedkin's The People vs. Paul Crump, and later with Philip Kaufman's Fearless Frank, and Francis Ford Coppola's The Rain People. He subsequently moved to Los Angeles in 1970, meeting Steven Spielberg and serving as his cinematographer on two of his early films, Something Evil and Savage. Butler then became the cinematographer on Spielberg's 1975 classic Jaws.


"I brought a lot of new things to the picture, such as hand-holding the camera," Butler later said Patrick Jankiewicz's 2015 book, Just When You Thought It Was Safe: A Jaws Companion. "In the old days of making sea pictures, they used a giant gimbal, which weighs roughly 400 pounds and is slow and hard to set up but does keep the camera level. I found, just by experimenting, that I could hand-hold the camera on an oceangoing boat and keep it level simply by using my knees. I told Steven that I had this idea about shooting the picture hand-held, and he just fainted."


That same year, Butler's work on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was released. He won two Primetime Emmy Awards in his career, for 1977's Raid on Entebbe and 1984's television movie version of A Streetcar Named Desire. His later work included Grease, Child's Play, Anaconda, Beethoven's 2nd, Flipper, and Funny Money. His final film credit was 2009's Evil Angel. He also served as an animated visual consultant on The Secret of NIMH and An American Tail.


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Rachel Pollack, a writer notable for her work on comic books like Doom Patrol and New Gods, has passed away. Pollack's death was confirmed by her wife Zoe Matoff in a Facebook post. She had previously been hospitalized, with a successful GoFundMe campaign raising money from fans and fellow writers to help pay for her care. She was 77.


"I am sad to tell you that our beloved Rachel Pollack passed so peacefully and beautifully today at about 12:45 p.m. after a touching ceremony called Hand to Heart," her wife wrote in a social media post. "I know that Rachel will continue to be a Light in this world and in the next. She will continue to inspire so many of our beloved Tarot community, the Science Fiction and Fantasy community, the Comics community, and the Transgender community for whom she shared so much respect and care. We have felt and cherished your love and prayers over the past months and years as Rachel experienced so many health challenges. We are One."


Fellow comic scribe Neil Gaiman paid tribute to Pollack as well, writing in a tweet: "She was my friend for 38 years and I will miss her. Sending love to Rachel Pollack wherever her journeys take her."


DC Comics also offered a tweet in tribute to Pollack, writing: "DC is deeply saddened by the passing of Rachel Pollack. Her trailblazing work on DOOM PATROL changed DC forever and inspired a generation of talent, setting a new bar for ambition and experimentation in superhero comics. She loved the medium, and it loved her back."


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Norman Reynolds, the two-time Oscar winning production and art designer on various Star Wars and Indiana Jones films who director Steven Spielberg once called the “creative core” of the franchises, has died. He was 89.


LucasFilm LTD has confirmed his death, first reported by the BBC, which said that Reynolds “died peacefully with his wife Ann and three daughters by his side.”


Spielberg, who first collaborated with Reynolds on 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, said on a statement, “Norman was always smiling with enthusiasm, and there was nothing he couldn’t make work. Joyful and friendly and a massive talent.”


Among Reynolds’ many contributions to the franchises was his sculpting of the iconic golden idol that Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones attempts to steal during the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Reynolds based the idol on an Incan fertility sculpture he’d collected during overseas travels.


“The legacy of this work spreads from movies and series to video games, immersive entertainment, and theme park experiences,” said LucasFilm LTD (read the entire statement below). “In every detail of Star Wars spatial design is the foundational work accomplished by Reynolds and his colleagues.”


A London native, Reynolds received his first Oscar for the production design of 1977’s Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope), sharing the trophy with John Barry, Leslie Dilley, and Roger Christian (Reynolds served as art director on the film). Reynolds took his second Oscar, this time as production designer, for Raiders, sharing the award with Leslie Dilley and Michael D. Ford.


After working as art director on the original Star Wars film, Reynolds took over from Barry as production designer for the initial sequels.


Other production design credits include, among others, Mission: Impossible (1996), Alive (1993), Alien 3 (1992), Avalon (1990), Empire of the Sun (1987), Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), Return to Oz (1985) Return of the Jedi (1983) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980).


As art director, his credits include Superman II (1980), Superman (1978), and Lucky Lady (1975).


“Norman was a cherished husband, father, father-in-law, granddad and great grandad,” said the family statement. “You would not know that behind his unassuming, funny and affable exterior lay an enormously talented production designer who brought so many of the films we all love to life through his iconic set designs. He was amazed at the fanbase his work created and how much his work meant to them. But above all, he loved and delighted in his large and growing family.”


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