George Lucas plans new Stars Wars film
Lucasfilm Ltd and the Warner Bros film studio said they would release the movie on August 15, ahead of the American debut of an animated TV series of the same name on Cartoon Network and TNT.
I felt there were a lot more Star Wars stories left to tell, Lucas said in a statement.
I was eager to start telling some of them through animation and, at the same time, push the art of animation forward.
The six-film Star Wars series is one of Hollywoods most lucrative franchises. It started with the initial Star Wars in 1977 and ended with 2005s Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.
At the time of Sith, Lucas said he would not make another Star Wars movie, but has said he was in development on the animated TV show.
Lucas had said he thought he might go back to making artistic films, although he never said exactly what he had on his mind.
The Star Wars movies tell about battles for intergalactic superiority in space, and Clone Wars promises more of the same stories - only in animation.
Key characters such as Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala will be joined by new heroes like Anakins padawan learner, Ahsoka.
Lucasfilm said each episode on TV would be like a 30-minute mini-movie with Jedi Knights battling villains such as Count Dooku and General Grievous.
Lucas company also began showing web-only documentaries telling of the development of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on the website www.starwars.com.
