So, file this under “Weird.”
Just a few decades or so ago, short films were screened before the feature.
That’s not so weird.
But this is: A 25-minute film called “Black Angel” was written and directed by Roger Christian, Oscar-winning set decorator of Episode IV: A New Hope and Alien. (He also directed Battlefield Earth, but we won’t go there.)
(From Athena Studio)
Lucas apparently “ordered 20th Century Fox to create something that would complement the tone of the darker, more mature Star Wars sequel.”
Cue: “Black Angel.”
The short film, “a fantasy film about a knight from the Crusades who’s transported to a magical realm where he must rescue a princess from the title villain,” was then shown overseas in parts of Europe and Australia before Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Steven Spielberg even called it “one of the most enigmatic films he’d ever seen.”
(From Athena Studio)
And this it somehow got lost…until now.
Even weirder? The studio that unearthed a print of “Black Angel” was Universal, a rival studio. The film has since been digitally restored and it was “premiered” last October at California’s Mill Valley Film Festival. It was also recently shown at the Glasgow Film Festival in Scotland.
(From Athena Studio)
The next step?
“Christian says he plans on releasing “Black Angel” later this year, possibly on Netflix and iTunes or perhaps on a DVD re-release of The Empire Strikes Back.
[via Yahoo! Movies]