Special effects pioneer Phil Tippett has shuttered his Berkeley-based studio after four decades of operations, auctioning off years of movie memorabilia from his beloved, innovative work on classic titles like “Star Wars,” “Jurassic Park,” “RoboCop” and “Starship Troopers.”
The liquidation sale, which ran from Aug. 28 – 30, drew collectors and fans to Tippett’s warehouse, looking to walk away with props, costumes, stop-motion models, production equipment, cameras, effects gear, prototypes, signed promotional material and other effects items. Some notable items up for sale included models used for the stop-motion Holochess sequence in “Star Wars” and an AT-AT Imperial Walker model from “The Empire Strikes Back,” created when Tippett served as the head of animation at Industrial Light and Magic.
While Tippett Studios is folding in this location, the company released a statement on social media Sunday to assert that its Toronto-based studio remains “in active production on a large feature film.”…