Star Wars and RoboCop special effects artist Phil Tippett closes legendary Berkeley studio

Sad news from California: Phil Tippett, the venerated special effects artist known for hand-crafting the Hoth ice battle in The Empire Strikes Back, ED-209 in RoboCop, and his wild magnum opus Mad God, as well as for innovating new stop-motion animation techniques for a new generation of filmmakers (among a dozen other kudos), has closed his Berkeley studio and auctioned off decades’ worth of creative work, according to a report from TheWrap. 

The auction, described as a “liquidation sale,” took place over the weekend, with scores of fans, collectors, and former employees queuing at Tippett’s warehouse to bid on iconic works such as the funky creatures from the Star Wars Dejarik sequence, a Jurassic Park jeep, a Bug model from Starship Troopers, and an Imperial Walker from Empire. The auction is now closed, but you can still view the lots here, with “props, costumes, stop-motion models, production equipment, cameras, effects gear, prototypes, [and] signed promotional material” among the incredible things now owned by private collectors instead of finding a new home at, say, a museum. Tippett says he’s kept his two Oscars, earned for his work on Return Of The Jedi and Jurassic Park, but that a “lot of painful decisions” following an industry pivot away from practical effects led the artist to clean house.

With its 2024 Chapter 11 filing, this auction is the latest blow to the legendary effects studio, co-founded in 1984 with Tippett’s wife, Jules Roman, though it shouldn’t suggest that Tippett is closing up shop anytime soon. Indeed, a recent statement posted on Facebook says that, while its Berkeley chapter has now closed, Tippett Studio remains in the business of making movie magic. You can read it below.