Lucas & Nolan Bring Down the House at ShowWest

George Lucas caught everyone off guard at ShowWest confab in Las Vegas on Thursday by showing up with his newest animated feature film “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.”

Lucas, protected on all sides by a squad of Stormtroopers arrived at the exhibit in the Paris Hotel to make his Warner Bros. film available for purchase by theater owners from across the globe. “Star Wars: The Clone Wars is due out on August 15, 2008 before its weekly television show begins airing this fall on the Cartoon Network.

“I think it can live up to the live-action movies,” Lucas said. He capped his presentation off with a showing of a clip from “Clone Wars.”

Even though George caused quite a stir with his surprise visit, the biggest attraction was Christopher Nolan’s presentation to theater owners of the highly anticipated Batman sequel to “Batman Returns,” his “The Dark Knight” starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Heath Ledger as the Joker. Nolan’s presentation and accolades to the deceased Ledger brought a rousing applause from attendees.

Other films aptly represented at this year’s event were “The Incredible Hulk,” “Speed Racer,” Mike Meyers’ “The Love Guru,” “Hellboy II: The Golden Army,” “Wanted” and Brendan Fraser’s third mummy entry titled “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” just to name a few.