Lucas Films Strikes Deal To Use QuickTime For Episode II Previews

After the rush of excitement and then the dissapoint that followed, Star Wars fans are finally over the rollercoaster ride of Episode One: The Phantom Menace. And it is a good thing, as the cast and crew are hard at work filming Episode II, and George Lucas is providing behind the scenes peaks at the filming process via Appleis QuickTime technology. According to Apple:

Building upon the incredible success of the Star Wars: Episode I movie trailers, which recorded more than 35 million downloads, Lucasfilm and Apple? are teaming again to bring Star Wars: Episode II to the web exclusively in QuickTime, Apple?s streaming media technology. Lucasfilm?s www.starwars.com now offers viewers worldwide a series of updates direct from the set of Star Wars: Episode II, now in production at Fox Studios in Australia?the first-ever, web-based, behind-the-scenes look at the making of a major motion picture as it happens. In addition to the regular updates, starwars.com will feature forthcoming Star Wars: Episode II documentaries produced exclusively for the web and streamed only in QuickTime. Both starwars.com and apple.com will feature Episode II movie trailers.

?We?re pleased to be working with Apple again to make our on-location footage available exclusively in QuickTime, which offers the best quality for streaming video over the Internet,? said George Lucas.

?We love Star Wars, and we?re pleased to be working again with George and his team to bring Episode II to the Internet,? said Steve Jobs, Apple?s CEO. ?We had incredible success streaming the Episode I movie trailer exclusively in QuickTime, and the new Episode II content is sure to create another Internet milestone.?

Under the multi-year agreement, all video-based Lucas content for Star Wars: Episode II on starwars.com will be streamed exclusively in QuickTime starting with the ?on location? series. The series initially hosted by Ahmed Best, the alter ego of Jar Jar Binks, will take viewers ?on location? to the set of Episode II currently in production at the Fox Studios Australia. Unrehearsed, unscripted and unedited, ?on location? and its intrepid host will guide viewers through the making of Episode II as it happens.

Users can head over to the Apple web site to get their free copy of QuickTime, and then visit the Star Wars site to get the first peak at the forthcoming Star Wars flick.