Star Wars and Jurassic Park VFX Legend Phil Tippett Closes Studio and Auctions Memorabilia

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).

“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.