Willow (film)

George Lucas conceived the idea for the film (originally titled Munchkins) in 1972. Similar in intent to Star Wars, he created "a number of well-known mythological situations for a young audience".[7][8] During the production of Return of the Jedi in 1982, Lucas approached Warwick Davis, who was portraying Wicket the Ewok, about playing Willow Ufgood. Five years passed before he was actually cast in the role. Lucas "thought it would be great to use a little person in a lead role. A lot of my movies are about a little guy against the system, and this was just a more literal interpretation of that idea."[7]

Lucas explained that he had to wait until the mid-1980s to make the film because visual effects technology was finally advanced enough to execute his vision.[8] Meanwhile, actor-turned-director Ron Howard was looking to do a fantasy film. He was at Industrial Light & Magic during the post-production phase of Cocoon, when he was first approached by Lucas to direct Willow. He had previously starred in Lucas's American Graffiti,[9] and Lucas felt that he and Howard shared a symbiotic relationship similar to the one he enjoyed with Steven Spielberg. Howard nominated Bob Dolman to write the screenplay based on Lucas's story. Dolman had worked with him on a 1983 television pilot called Little Shots that had not resulted in a series, and Lucas admired Dolman's work on the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati.[10]

Dolman joined Howard and Lucas at Skywalker Ranch for a series of lengthy story conferences, and wrote seven drafts of his script between the spring and fall of 1986.[10] Pre-production began in late 1986. Various major film studios turned down the chance to distribute and co-finance it with Lucasfilm because they believed the fantasy genre was unsuccessful. This was largely due to films such as Krull, Legend, Dragonslayer, and Labyrinth.[11] Lucas took it to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), which was headed by Alan Ladd Jr. Ladd and Lucas shared a relationship as far back as the mid-1970s, when Ladd, running 20th Century Fox, greenlighted Lucas's idea for Star Wars.[12] However, in 1986, MGM was facing financial troubles, and major investment in a fantasy film was perceived as a risk. Ladd advanced half the $35 million budget for it in return for theatrical and television rights, leaving Lucasfilm with home video and pay television rights to offer in exchange for the other half.[12] RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video paid $15 million to Lucas in exchange for the video rights.[13]

Lucas based the character of General Kael (Pat Roach) on the film critic Pauline Kael,[14] a fact that was not lost on Kael in her printed review of the film. She referred to General Kael as an "homage a moi". Similarly, the two-headed dragon was called an "Eborsisk" after film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.[3]

Principal photography began on April 2, 1987, and ended the following October. Interior footage took place at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, England, while location shooting took place in Wales and New Zealand.[12] Lucas initially visualized shooting the film similar to Return of the Jedi, with studio scenes at Elstree and locations in Northern California, but the idea eventually faded. However, some exteriors were done around Skywalker Ranch and on location at Burney Falls, near Mount Shasta.[15] The Chinese government refused Lucas the chance for a brief location shoot. He then sent a group of photographers to South China to photograph specific scenery, which was then used for background blue screen footage. Tongariro National Park in New Zealand was chosen to house Bavmorda's castle.[15]

Willow attempts to restore Fin Raziel to human form.

Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) created the visual effects sequences. The script called for Willow to restore Fin Raziel (Patricia Hayes) from a goat to her human form. Willow recites what he thinks is the appropriate spell, but turns the goat into an ostrich, a peacock, a tortoise and, finally, a tiger, before returning her to normal. ILM supervisor Dennis Muren considered using stop motion animation for the scene.[16] He also explained that another traditional and practical way in the late 1980s to execute this sequence would have been through the use of an optical dissolve with cutaways at various stages.[12]

Muren found both stop motion and optical effects to be too technically challenging and decided that the transformation scene would be a perfect opportunity for ILM to create advances with digital morphing technology. He proposed filming each animal, and the actress doubling for Hayes, and then feeding the images into a computer program developed by Doug Smythe.[12] The program would then create a smooth transition from one stage to another before outputting the result back onto film. Smythe began development of the necessary software in September 1987. By March 1988, Muren and fellow designer David Allen achieved what would represent a breakthrough for computer-generated imagery (CGI).[12] The techniques developed for the sequence were later utilized by ILM for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.[17]

The head of ILM's animation department, Wes Takahashi, supervised the film's animation sequences.[18]

The film was shown and promoted at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.[21][22] It was released on May 20, 1988, in 1,209 theaters, earning $8,300,169 in its opening weekend, placing number one at the weekend box office. Lucas had hoped it would earn as much money as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,[22] but the film faced early competition with Crocodile Dundee II, Big and Rambo III.[23] Grossing $57.3 million at the box office in the United States and Canada[24] it was not the blockbuster hit insiders had anticipated.[25] The film opened in Japan in July and grossed $16.7 million in its first seven weeks, MGM's highest-grossing film in Japan at the time.[26] It performed well in other international markets, grossing $80.3 million[27][28] for a worldwide total of $137.6 million. Strong home video, and television sales added to its profits.[29]

The film was released to mixed reviews from critics.[22] As of December 2020, based on 55 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, it reported a "Rotten" 51% rating, with an average score of 5.9/10. The critical consensus reads, "State-of-the-art special effects and an appealing performance from Warwick Davis can't quite save Willow from its slow pace and generic story."[30]

Janet Maslin from The New York Times praised Lucas's storytelling, but was critical of Ron Howard's direction. "Howard appears to have had his hands full in simply harnessing the special effects," Maslin said.[31]

Siskel & Ebert gave it Two Thumbs Down.

Desson Thomson writing in The Washington Post, explained "Rob Reiner's similar fairytale adventure The Princess Bride (which the cinematographer Adrian Biddle also shot) managed to evoke volumes more without razzle-dazzle. It's a sad thing to be faulting Lucas, maker of the Star Wars trilogy and Raiders of the Lost Ark, for forgetting the tricks of entertainment."[32] Mike Clark in USA Today wrote that "the rainstorm wrap-up, in which Good edges Evil is like Led Zeppelin Meets The Wild Bunch. The film is probably too much for young children and possibly too much of the same for cynics. But any 6–13-year-old who sees this may be bitten by the ’movie bug’ for life."[12]

At the Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects, but lost both to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which was similarly done by Industrial Light & Magic.[33] It won Best Costume Design at the Saturn Awards, where it was also nominated for Warwick Davis for Best Performance by a Younger Actor (lost to Fred Savage for Vice Versa) and Jean Marsh for Best Supporting Actress (lost to Sylvia Sidney for Beetlejuice). It also lost Best Fantasy Film[34] and the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation to Who Framed Roger Rabbit.[35] It was also nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Screenplay, which lost to Cocktail and Worst Supporting Actor for Billy Barty, who lost to Dan Aykroyd for Caddyshack II.[36]

The film was first released on VHS, Betamax, Video 8, and LaserDisc on November 22, 1988 by RCA Columbia Pictures Home Video and had multiple re-releases on VHS in the 1990s under Columbia-TriStar Home Video as well as a Widescreen LaserDisc in 1995. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment re-released the film on VHS and on DVD for the first time as a "special edition" in November 2001. The release included an audio commentary by Warwick Davis and two "making of" featurettes. In the commentary, Davis confirms that there were a number of "lost scenes" previously rumored to have been deleted from it including a battle in the valley, Willow battling a boy who transforms into a shark in a lake while retrieving Fin Raziel, and an extended sorceress duel at the climax.[37] 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray Disc on March 12, 2013, with an all-new digital transfer overseen by Lucasfilm.[38] Following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, the film was re-released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital (for the first time) on January 29, 2019, and was later made available to stream on Disney+ when the service launched on November 12, 2019.

In 1988, Tor Books released The Willow Game,[39] a two- to six-player adventure board game based on the film and designed by Greg Costikyan.

Three video games based on the film were released. Mindscape published an action game in 1988 for Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and DOS.[40] Japanese game developer Capcom published two different games in 1989 based on the film; the first Willow is a platform game for the arcades and the second Willow game is a role-playing game for the Nintendo Entertainment System.[41][42]

Wayland Drew adapted Lucas's story into a film novel,[43] providing additional background information to several major characters and various additional scenes, including an encounter with a lake monster near Razel's island which was filmed, but ultimately not used in the movie. A segment of that scene's filmed material can be found in the DVD's "Making of Willow" documentary.

Lucas outlined the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy to follow the film and hired comic book writer/novelist Chris Claremont to adapt them into a series of books. They take place about fifteen years after the original film and feature the teenage Elora Danan as a central character. Madmartigan and Sorsha are killed off almost immediately in the first book and play no further part in the series.

1. Shadow Moon (1995) ISBN 0-553-57285-7
2. Shadow Dawn (1996) ISBN 0-553-57289-X
3. Shadow Star (2000) ISBN 0-553-57288-1

Beginning in 2005, Lucas and Davis discussed the possibility of a television series serving as a sequel to Willow.[44] Throughout the years, in various interviews, Davis expressed interest in reprising his role as the titular character.[45][46][47]

By May 2018, Howard confirmed that there were ongoing discussions regarding a sequel, while confirming the project would not be called Willow 2.[48] In 2019, Ron Howard announced that a sequel television series is currently in development, with intentions for the series to be exclusively released on the Disney+ streaming service. Jonathan Kasdan will write the television series, while Warwick Davis will reprise his role from the original film.[49][50][51] In October 2020, the series was officially green-lit by Disney+, with Ron Howard set to executive produce the series alongside Kasdan, Wendy Mericle, and Jon M. Chu. Chu will direct the series first episode, with Kasdan and Mericle serving as showrunners, Warwick Davis reprising his role as Willow Ufgood, and Bob Dolman serving as a consulting producer.[52] In December 2020, it was announced the show would be released in 2022.[53] In January 2021, Chu left his directorial duties due to production moving towards the summer and it corresponding with birth of his next child.[54] That same month, it was revealed that Jonathan Entwistle had officially been hired to replace Chu as director, with filming expected to commence in Spring 2021.[55]