Kevin Munroe, of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame, is directing the picture, from a screenplay by David Berenbaum, who wrote the comical yet endearing Elf and The Spiderwick Chronicles adaptation.

We don't know if the picture is an original idea from Lucas, but we do know there will be dancing, singing, CG and fairies. But let's speculate anyways.

What if Lucas was inspired by his past work on Willow? A new fairy-centric Willow world? With more Ewok picnics and a cameo from Val Kilmer as an older Madmartigan. Instead of the hyper stylized world of the Prequels and Clone Wars, what about a gritty, dirty fantasy world — oh wait, it's CG... Hmmm, never mind.

Perhaps it's a crew of misfit space fairies reminiscent of Captain EO.

And finally, what about a Spiderwick-style story where fairies live among us?

Yeah, our hopes are firmly set on a new Willow feature.

[via THR Heat Vision]

[via The Hollywood Reporter]

When asked by Movie Geek Feed about the rumors, Sansweet offered this denial:

It wasn't a news item. It was something that somebody made up. It's totally, totally ignorant and stupid, and even the people who picked it up and spread it along, said there's no way this can be true. And of course there's no way it can be true. You shouldn't believe what you read on the internet. Take everything with a big grain of salt.

There's something to be said for his straight-shooting, isn't there?

Want To Hear The Official Answer To Those Star Wars 3D Movie Rumors? We've Got It Here From Lucasfilm Head Of Fan Relations Steve Sansweet! [Movie Geek Feed]

The always wonderful Bonnie Burton of The Official Star Wars Blog was at last night's LucasFilm Halloween Party and snapped some great photos of the creative costumes crowding the floor.

You can see more photos from the party at Bonnie's Twitpic.

Sushi Family
Mugatu
Monsters vs. Aliens
Waldo
Venusian Alien from It Conquered the World
Zombie Snow White and the Seven Dwarf Skulls
Pinata
Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers
Up
Spinal Tap Takes the Stage
Retro Monsters and Robots
Best Costume Lineup

One of the first questions that's worth asking is "Is anyone left?" It's hard to top the much-stated 5000+ characters contained in Marvel's IP, and it'd be a tough argument to suggest that there are any other comic publishers available who could offer anything even vaguely similar, especially considering that the larger companies that aren't DC or Marvel don't own the majority of their IP (Dark Horse, Image, and IDW all predominantly offer creator owned or licensed material); although purchasing one of those publishers may offer existing relationships with creators, it doesn't necessarily translate into anything that Disney (or any other company with large pockets) could immediately take advantage of.

(That said, if I were looking for a publisher purely for the IP rights and wasn't specifically looking for superheroes, I'd probably see if either Boom! Studios or Tokyopop were looking to be bought out; neither has an IP farm anywhere close to the size of Marvel's, but both have had some success coming up with new series and concepts that could easily be adapted into movies or television - at least, until Tokyopop's cutback "restructuring" last year, on their side. Or, of course, Rebellion, who own the 2000AD rights, which could definitely use some exploiting.)

If IP is really what's being looked for, Disney might want to follow Hollywood and go for toy and game companies; Hasbro has been positioning itself as more of a intellectual property generator than toy company since their deal with Universal Studios last year, after all, and with already successful properties like Transformers and GI Joe, they must be looking pretty tempting to any company wanting to buy an immediate in to existing markets right about now. Perhaps not as obvious, but arguably more worthwhile, a videogame publisher like Electronic Arts - owner of The Sims and Dead Space, amongst others - or Valve may not bring the instant brand awareness of Hasbro or Marvel, but unlike both, is currently creating new properties as successful as their Greatest Hits, which might be a better investment in the long run.

All of this conjecture, however, ignores the Bantha in the middle of the room: Lucasfilm.

The privately-owned Lucasfilm may not own have as many separate franchises as Marvel, but it has Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and there's definitely an argument to be made that Star Wars alone is worth as much as the entire Marvel Universe (Containing almost as many characters, and with the ability to spin out as many sub-franchises as it has, after all). More to the point, unlike Marvel, Lucasfilm is much more than an IP factory; alongside the movie studio, publishing arm, online division and animation department - all of which a self-respecting media juggernaut like Disney also has - it includes industry leaders Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light & Magic, making them almost unique in terms of value add (Yes, Marvel may be the industry leader in comic book publishing, but how important is that to Disney's core business?).

It's extremely unlikely that Lucas would sell Lucasfilm, especially as he seems to have become interested in the possibilities television offers to him and the company. But everyone has their price, as the saying goes. The question is just how high Lucas' price would be - and whether anyone could afford it.

The six paintings were part of a 1990s trading card set, Star Wars Galaxy: New Visions, in which fantasy and comic book illustrators got to give their individual takes on the Star Wars universe without fear of licensor nitpicking... well, unless your names were Kevin Nowlan, Joe Ciardiello, John Pound, Tim Burgard, Chris Moeller or John Rheaume, all of whose work was deemed just a little bit too new, at the time.

With the Star Wars Galaxy card line being relaunched by Topps next year, each of those artists are getting their day in the sun, albeit more than ten years late... and that's only the start. Ira Friedman, Topps' Vice President of Publishing, explains:

We're delighted that Lucasfilm feels the same way we do about these unique illustrations. And their presence in Star Wars Galaxy 4 is only the beginning. Future Galaxy sets will contain additional 'lost' artwork, and other rare items too controversial for the '90s. Clearly, their time has finally come!

Personally, I'm hoping for the lost artwork where someone apologizes for Clone Wars' Ahsoka, but that may just be me.

Rediscovering Long Rejected Topps Card Art [StarWars.com]

The front lobby offered up even more Star Wars items, like full-sized Vader and Boba Fett costumes, Han's Blaster, and more. Next to the reception desk were two huge framed posted for The Creature from the Black Lagoon and Dracula. However, towering over everything in the center is a large monument built to honor Willis Harold O'Brien, the man who pioneered stop-motion in animation with the visual effects in King Kong, and later animated dinosaurs in The Lost World, co-wrote King Kong vs. Godzilla, and had Ray Harryhausen as an assistant. A surprisingly touching tribute to man who needs a lot more recognition.

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• Fracture: In the far future, the effects of global warming have created terrain-deforming weaponry and split the United States in two. The Atlantic Alliance on the East, and the Republic of Pacifica on the West. You play a partially cybernetic human who has access to things like grenades they raise and lower the terrain, open swirling vortexes, send enormous molten rock formations into the air, and burrow through the Earth. If you want to beat up on the terrain of future San Francisco, this is right up your alley.
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• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Play as Darth Vader's secret apprentice as you hunt down the rest of the remaining Jedi, and use your amped-up Force powers to literally rip TIE-Fighters out of the air and hurl them at opponents. Set between Episodes 3 and 4, you'll encounter characters and settings from both sets of movies, mess people up with the Force, and use your lightsaber like it's going out of style. Hopefully we'll also find out why we never found out Vader had a secret apprentice before as well.
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• Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures: We'll be the first to admit that Indiana Jones has a tenuous scifi connection, at best. The guy is a swashbuckling archaeologist who hunts down supernatural artifacts and doodads, but hey... at the end of the day he's a scientist and a professor. Plus he's pretty kickass and might be encountering aliens in Indy IV. This game continues the idea of encasing Indiana in Lego, like the Lego Star Wars: The Complete Trilogy.

Fans contacted Lucasfilm to ask them about this rumor. Lucasfilm executives managed to respond before the Hasbro investor call was even over. They didn't deny that a theatrical release for Clone Wars was a possibility, but said no decisions had been made yet. But given that no TV network has yet picked up the PG-13 rated animated Star Wars, a high-profile movie launch could make sense.