Amid Feature Animation Push, Rob Coleman And Randal Shore Rejoin ILM

As it expands its feature animation slate, Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic has hired — or rather rehired — two executives to help lead the charge. Rob Coleman (image at top, left) is joining as a key creative for feature animation, Randal Shore as an executive producer in feature animation.

Here are the details:

• Coleman is joining ILM’s Sydney studio. He first worked at the company as an animator in the 1990s, working his way up to animation director on the Star Wars prequel trilogy, for which he was twice Oscar-nominated.
• In 2005, Coleman joined Lucasfilm Animation, where he provided development leadership on Star Wars: The Clone Wars. He directed several episodes of the series.
• Since then, he has served as animation director at Dr. D. Studios (where his credits include Happy Feet Two) and as head of animation at Animal Logic (The Lego Movie, The Lego Batman Movie, Peter Rabbit).
• “I could not be more excited or humbled to be back at ILM,” said Coleman. “In my time in animation, I’ve been lucky enough to work on some truly industry-defining films, but the pipeline of projects that ILM has ahead of it is exhilarating, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”
• Shore is rejoining ILM’s Vancouver studio, which he helped launch and grow as its previous executive in charge. His credits at ILM include No Time to Die, Jungle Cruise, Black Widow, and The Mandalorian. He will now develop the company’s feature animation strategy.
• After initially leaving ILM in May 2020, Shore was named head of production at Tangent Animation, which recently shut down. There, he oversaw Maya and the Three, Jorge Gutiérrez’s upcoming limited series for Netflix.
• Previous roles include head of production at MPC, where Life of Pi won a vfx Oscar under his tenure, and executive producer at Prime Focus, where he worked on The Tree of Life and Tron: Legacy.
• “I am absolutely thrilled to be back at Industrial Light & Magic,” said Shore. “We have some incredible feature animation projects in production, and I’m looking forward to both expanding our portfolio, and leveraging our best-in-class global studios.”