2) General Questions

A.  When does this story take place relative to the Star Wars saga?

Episode II: Attack of the Clones takes place approximately 10 years after Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and approximately 30 years before Episode IV: A New Hope (the original Star Wars movie). In ANH, Obi-Wan told Luke he fought along side his father during the Clone Wars. This movie is the begining of those wars.

B.  When is Episode III coming out? What's it about?

Episode III should be coming out in 2005. It will conclude George Lucas' prequel trilogy and will deal with the continuing downfall of the Galactic Republic, and the turning of Anakin Skywalker to the dark side.

C.  What Episode II multimedia movie files are available on the internet?

There are four Episode II trailers, and 12 TV spots covering various characters and topics of the movie.

The trailers are available at:
http://www.starwars.com/episode-ii/video/archive_episodeiitrailers.html

They are titled:

"Clone War"
"Forbidden Love"
"Mystery"
"Breathing"

The TV spots are available at:
http://www.starwars.com/episode-ii/video/archive_episodeiicommercials.html

They are titled:
Anakin Skywalker 
Jango Fett 
Mace Windu 
Obi-Wan Kenobi 
Padmé Amidala 
Anakin's Story 
Padmé's Story 
Forbidden Love 
War 
Jedi 
Clone Troopers 
Artoo-Detoo 

There is also a music video for "Across the Stars" at:
http://www.starwars.com/episode-ii/video/archive_episodeiimusicvideo.html

D. What's the deal with certain theaters boycotting AOTC?

Independent movie theaters are sometimes 2 or 3 rooms large and sometimes supply films for an entire small town. To them, Lucasfilm's demands are pretty high. They are: giving Lucasfilm 70% of the profits for three weeks straight (regular studio film asks for 70% only on the first week.) They also demand that the movie remain on the theater's biggest screen for at least 12 weeks, which in a small town theater can mean a loss of potential profits after two or three weeks when the next big summer movies come out and they can't show them all. 

Particularly in the Canadian province of Quebec, independent theater owners are boycotting AOTC because of the demands and restrictions put upon them by Lucasfilm. The biggest obstacle is "Asterix: Mission Cleopatre". This film is predicted to be a bigger hit in Quebec than AOTC, and if small theaters don't have this movie on their large rooms, it could mean a considerable profit loss.

E. I heard the movie was shot on digital video. What can you tell me about the camera?

Lucas shot Episode II with a Sony HDW-F900 high-definition digital camera, outfitted with custom-made lenses from Panavision. The camera was designed for both digital cinematography and HDTV production. The marketing people at Sony claim this camera capitalizes on the advantages of digital video, but keeps the aesthetic look of 35mm film.

If you are interested in looking at the operating manual of the camera, click here http://www.cinematography.net/Files/F900_Ops.pdf (Adobe Acrobat required)