Phil Tippett spent nearly 40 years building one of Hollywood's most respected visual effects studios out of Berkeley, California. Last weekend, collectors walked through his warehouse and bought pieces of it.
The liquidation sale ran from August 28 through August 30 and drew fans looking to acquire props, costumes, stop-motion models, production equipment, cameras, effects gear, prototypes, and signed promotional material. Among the notable items were models used for the stop-motion Holochess sequence in Star Wars and an AT-AT Imperial Walker model from The Empire Strikes Back. Tippett created that model while serving as head of animation at Industrial Light and Magic.
The closure follows a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 2024, after Tippett Studio was acquired by Indian company PhantomFX. According to The Wrap, the 74-year-old Tippett said he made "a lot of painful decisions" with his business over the years, as practical effects work has become increasingly outmoded in film production.
The two visual effects Oscars Tippett won for his work on Return of the Jedi and Jurassic Park are not going anywhere. He confirmed ahead of the auction that he would be keeping both.
Despite the closure of the Berkeley location, the company issued a statement making clear that operations are not finished entirely. Its Toronto-based studio, the statement said, remains "in active production on a large feature film."
The full statement read: "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."
The statement also addressed the future of stop-motion work specifically. "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."
Tippett's credits span some of the most recognizable films in Hollywood history, including RoboCop and Starship Troopers. This year, he contributed work to a battle sequence in The Mandalorian and Grogu. In 2021, Shudder released his long-gestating passion project Mad God, a stop-motion silent film he had spent years developing.
Retirement is not part of his plans. Tippett told CBS News that "I will die with my sword in my hand … We had almost a 40-year run. It was a good run."
