'Star Wars' saga lives again on-screen

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Hollywood's "Star Wars" franchise lives again with a new animated feature film and TV series called "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," set to debut this year.

"I felt there were a lot more 'Star Wars' stories left to tell," George Lucas, executive producer of "The Clone Wars," 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 projects will be produced by Lucasfilm Animation in a partnership among Lucasfilm Ltd., Warner Bros. Pictures and Turner Broadcasting System Inc., it was announced Tuesday.

The film is scheduled to open in North American theaters Aug. 15, while the series of 30-minute "mini-movies" is slated to premiere on Cartoon Network this fall.

Episodes of the show will then be rerun on TNT.

"This is a breakthrough project -- returning 'Star Wars' to the big screen in a completely new way while beginning an exciting new chapter in George Lucas' legendary saga. We immediately felt that it would be a fantastic theatrical event and are thrilled to be bringing it to moviegoers," Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. Pictures' president of domestic distribution, said in a statement.