Lucasfilm's "Sandcrawler" Opens In Singapore

By: Benjamin Hart

Yes, you read that title right. There's a Sandcrawler in Singapore now! Well, not the type of Sandcrawler that we're familiar with from a Galaxy far, far away, but a building that very much resembles the Jawa's vehicle of choice, as you can see above. A host of high profile guests including George Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong attended a ceremony that officially opened The Sandcrawler, which is to be the new home base for Lucasfilm's Singapore division. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy had this to say at the event:

“When we first opened our Singapore studio in 2005, the local digital production landscape looked very different. It was relatively small, with a limited talent pool and virtually no visual effects work being done. By investing in local talent, we’ve been able to significantly grow our Singapore studio into a world-class digital production facility.”

So far the team in Singapore has worked on visual affects for such films as Transformers(2007), Iron Man(2008) and Star Trek(2009). Their work can also been seen Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Going forward, not only will work on future Star Wars films take place in the Sandcrawler, but it will also serve as the regional headquarters for The Walt Disney Company(Southeast Asia) and  ESPN Asia Pacific.

Source: Today