Legendary stop-motion animator and Oscar winner Phil Tippett is closing his Berkeley studio after 35 years, clearing out a massive 6,200-square-foot warehouse in a historic liquidation event. Hosted by Clarity Estate Liquidation from August 28 through August 30, 2026, the sale offers fans and collectors an unprecedented chance to own pieces of cinematic history. The warehouse is packed with numerous film props, models, prototypes, and costumes spanning decades of groundbreaking visual effects work.
Highlights include iconic items from Star Wars, such as three models from the original holographic chess scene, alongside signed movie posters, storyboards, blueprints, and production pieces from Phill Tippett’s visionary stop motion film Mad God. Beyond cinematic memorabilia, the massive inventory features professional stop-motion and motion capture gear, cameras, lenses, 3D printers, and workshop tools. Clarity Estate’s website offe over 270 photos of auctioned items. Except for all the Star Wars relics, sci-fi fans will be able to bid on artefacts from classics such as RoboCop, Starship Troopers, Ghostbusters and many more. In 2024 the majority stake of Tippett Studio was acquired by India’s PhantomFX.
In an interview with Berkeleyside during a recent visit to his studio, legendary special-effects pioneer Phil Tippett reflected on his career and the studio’s closure by stating, “I’m keeping the Oscars,” referring to his Academy Awards for Return of the Jedi and Jurassic Park, and adding that he is “retired from the racket” with his last major project being the Twilight series. Discussing the studio’s real estate history over the years, he noted that “it’s so cyclical we didn’t want to buy more space,” while describing a signed Imperial Walker model as “one of four or five artist proofs scanned from the original.” Finally, regarding the massive liquidation sale, he acknowledged that although he hasn’t shed everything, “I’ve made a lot of painful decisions.“