Prior to ID-4's release, an incredible mount of hoopla was generated surrounding the motion-picture. It was very highly anticipated by movie-goers around the world. In fact, ID-4 was chosen to be the first non "classic" or "cult classic" Studio licensed Film property, Icons chose to license and base replicas on (Men in Black and Starship Troopers being the 2nd and 3rd).
In the initial 20th Century Fox licensing presentation made by Icons, the visionary company was given a standing ovation and subsequently awarded the master licenses for the Predator and Aliens franchises, Planet of the Apes, The Day the Earth Stood Still and...ID-4, all for no licensing advance or royalties guarantee. In other words, all for free with no guarantee of edition numbers sold. This is another remarkable achievement by Icons. Today, with the boom in the popularity of Film & Television replicas, this would be impossible.
Icons relationship with the ID-4 property is a fascinating one and unlike any other in its licensing history. Following the filming of ID-4, Fox Studios was so impressed with Icons emphasis on R&D and preservation of entertainment memorabilia that it asked Icons to pick up, inventory and preserve all of the original miniature molds used in the making of the ID-4 feature film, which it did, including trucking by flatbed 10-ton trucks, massive 14 ft. in diameter ID-4 Alien "Mother-Ship" masters to Icons HQ in Sun Valley, California (Note : photos of this can be seen in Icons Vault #3/4).
Icons was asked by Fox to restore the Mother-Ship masters to appear as if they were actual filming miniatures, which were then donated to the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain.
Icons casted two 2 ft. Alien Attacker miniatures for submittal to 20th Century Fox from their production molds. The company was loaned one 2 ft "Hero" miniature of an Alien Attacker for reference purposes. The 2 cast Attackers mentioned above were meticulously cast, prepped, assembled, primed and painted (by Dragon Donet) to precisely match the screen-used original loaned to Icons by Fox.
An interesting anecdote relating to this time, is that when Icons returned the loaned Attacker to Fox in a ID-4 prototype meeting, Icons R&D placed the original with Icons two replica prototypes and stated "We challenge you to pick the original...and if you guess wrong, Icons gets to keep it"...after a quick examination, the Studio executives laughed and refused the challenge stating the quality of Icons replicas were too superior.
One of the prototypes mentioned above (#0002) was left with 20th Century Fox and one (#0001) was returned to Icons as the product reference model. Note : it was standard operating procedure for Icons to keep the #1 of all of its editions in the company archive.
As Icons was about to begin to produce the ID-4 Alien Attacker miniature replica product-line, careful examination was done by Icons Chief mold-maker, the brilliant Al Zequeira, it was obvious the Studio produced molds were on the verge of "burning out", after numerous castings were made for production (many to be blown up via pyrotechnics), so the decision was made to create new molds off of the #1 Alien Attacker.
Icons was world-renown for its fantastic mold-making process, so almost no shrinking occurred. Icons was so innovative in its U.S. manufacturing process that the huge company 3-M used to throw "pizza parties" for Icons mold, mastering & casting department :-)
This is the Icons ID-4 Attacker prototype COA. It is in beautiful shape. The Icons and 20th Century Fox logo's are hand-cut and glued on it. Very unique !!
The ship rests on the original Icons ID-4 Alien Attacker display base "master" (1630 resin - above) created for the ID-4 display base, which is a casting of the ID-4 Alien Mothership. When Icons took possession of all the original production molds from the film, Fox didn't know what to do with them, they were sorted. I think the base was made from a panel mold, that was made for the interior of the Mothership.
A side wall panel that would have appeared huge on screen. So it is not to scale to the Attacker. It was thought it was in the style of the Attacker / film production design.
This is a picture of two Icons Alien Attackers : on the left, the standard Icons replica and on the right, the prototype....more greenish as you can see.
Less than 60 of these incredibly accurate miniatures were ever produced from 1997 until 2000, by Icons Authentic Replicas.
Less than 60 of these incredibly accurate miniatures were ever produced from 1997 until 2000, by Icons Authentic Replicas.
The following picture is from Al Zequeira holding the actual filming miniature, the one he used to mold the one for the Icons production run !!!
