PT AOTC and ROTS 3-D releases postponed

Done.
I meant that right now they are just postponed. I hope we don't eventually hear that they are cancelled altogether.

 

Given the recent development that we are moving forward with a new Star Wars trilogy, we will now focus 100 percent of our efforts on Star Wars: Episode VII in order to ensure the best possible experience for our fans.
Strange news. So Lucasfilm claims to focus on Episode VII even though work on Episode II's and III's conversation has long begun?

J.J., his longtime producing partner Bryan Burk, and Bad Robot are on board to produce along with Kathleen Kennedy under the Disney | Lucasfilm banner.
This irritated me even before. Doesn't it sound like Abrams' Bad Robot is going to produce Episode VII while Disney is observing and Lucasfilm is basically just a brand?

I don't know. I could definitely see FOX/Disney issues as well as other reasons (box office expectation, marketing thoughts).

But let's see the bright side: There is no chance for the internet crowd to campaign and lower AOTC's and ROTS' rottentomatoes.com-ratings like they did with Episode I

 

Suits- we think releasing the other 2 prequels will hurt the brand, and would rather skip it.
PR people - tell them it's so you can focus on making Episode VII better, they'll love that.

 

Because the $100 million worldwide TPM got hurted the brand a lot...

 

Do you think the steps that Disney has taken thus far are aimed at making movies more like the PT or more like the OT?

I'm not sure what you mean when you say that it made $100 million worldwide, and that's supposed to prove something. I'm guessing "we" all went and saw it at least once in 3-D, but that doesn't mean that it reached the real market for this new Trilogy. A proper Star Wars movie would make 2 to 3 Billion dollars.

 

3 Billion Dollars, you say?!

 

Both? Neither?

Proved that there is an interest and that it makes money.

A proper Star Wars movie which had just been released on high def home video and was 10 years old would have made 2 or 3 billion dollars? No Star Wars movie made that amount, even on the first release.

 

Yes, it made a decent haul.

No, it's not the weakest in the series; at least, not to me.

The SW films are all of equal quality, in my opinion -- though, the range of imagination on display in, say, the art direction of TPM trounces, say, that same aspect of ROTJ, in my opinion (and I love ROTJ -- including its damn art direction!).

With its reputation within the broader fanbase, perhaps TPM was destined to make a smaller pile of cash in 3D than the other five; or ROTS and the OT, maybe. But then, we have a lot of people throwing stones at TPM on the Internet, and those people, nine times out of ten, are SW/sci-/fantasy movie geeks. I think it's a wee bit more popular with the wider public and casual fan.

Well, I imagined that LFL were probably projecting $100 million minimum, but really hoping for closer to $150 million. You're right, though: they didn't exactly time the release very well; and in life, timing is everything.

And the BP oil spill of 2010 was just a "leak". Some reading between the lines may be necessary.

If LFL are too busy *now* with the sequel trilogy, how exactly are they going to un-busy themselves in the next decade?

Then there's the possible -- probable? -- decline of 3D in cinemas over the next few years.

Postponement, my backside. Cancellation is more like it.

 

"Lucasfilm has decided to postpone this fall's scheduled release of Star Wars Episodes II and III in 3D. Given the recent development that we are moving forward with a new Star Wars trilogy, we will now focus 100 percent of our efforts on Star Wars: Episode VII in order to ensure the best possible experience for our fans. We will post further information about our 3D release plans at a later date."

Postponing is one thing but this makes no mention of rescheduling for a future date... which is what "postponement" really means. They could be announcing new dates at some point soon, but this unfortunately sounds more like the other five films may never be released in 3D and they just don't want to say so yet. I guess we'll know when they "post further information about (their) 3D release plans at a later date". That would be a shame given that AOTC and ROTS must have been largely finished conversion-wise, and of course it's bad news for anyone that wanted to see them or the OT in 3D theatrically.

 

With the news that Episode VII may not be released on time, one has to wonder that maybe they will release the 3D version more closer to 2015. They wouldn't just outright cancel it. TPM 3D was profitable, and since the conversions of Episodes II and III were complete (or nearly so) what would they loose by not releasing them?

It's not about money, otherwise Lucasfilm wouldn't even announce Episodes II and III.

 

We're all just guessing. For example, there is reasonable speculation that this may have something to do with Fox and distribution rights: Fox has those until 2020.

I personally don't think they'd put 3D versions out quite so close to what is still, for the meanwhile, the actual year of Ep. VII's release; not now they've made this announcement, anyway. If the excuse is that LFL is throwing all of its resources behind the sequel trilogy, I can't see them putting these things to market any time soon.

There may also be some misgivings here about the 3D format. It could already be dying out. Disney also just scrapped its planned release of "The Little Mermaid" in 3D, for instance. Quite what's going on behind-the-scenes is anyone's guess, but it does appear that confidence in 3D releases is maybe waning.

Or the sequel trilogy is well-and-truly hogging everything at this moment in time. Which could well be the case if they're scrambling to try and meet that 2015 release date; or not slip by more than a year.

 

Hiring Lawrence Kasdan is a clue.

Proved that there is still interest from Star Wars fans. I can't see many casual movie goers going to see AOTC in 3-D. This hurts the brand.

Avatar made 2.7B. A proper Star Wars movie made today would easily match or top that. Makes $100 million sound insignificant, which was my point.

 

Sorry, I don't see it as a clue of anything. It just indicates that they got someone who was involved with the franchise.

As well, yes.

I can.

How?

Your point ignores that it's a re-release of a 10 year old movie which had just been made available on an high definition home video. And since TPM is a proper Star Wars movie, and to give a fair comparison with Avatar, it made $925 thousand dollars back in '99. Avatar was a 3D movie from the get go, with increased ticket prices.

 

I think this delay is probably due to several things, busy with EP VII, worry that the 3D market is going down but I also believe that the gross of TPM was a factor.
Sure it was not bad and it probably turned a profit.

But consider, ANH SE made 140 M$ 15 years ago just in the domestic market. This is more than three times TPM's 43 M$.
So even with 15 years of inflation and 3D prizes, TPM made less than a third of ANH. Sure there were several other factors like DVD/Blueray and much higher quality of TV-screens. But still it is a big drop. If TPM had sold as many tickets as ANH then it would have made over 200 M$ in the US alone.
Now I don't think LFL were expecting THAT much money but to make less than 50 M$ domestic? That I think is a little below what they were hoping for.

Don't forget, this was the FIRST SW movie in 3D. It had a pretty big opening day but then dropped quite hard the following weekends.
Of all the 3D re-releases, it had the second highest opening day/opening weekend and yet it's total gross is 4th place out of six.
This tells me that many SW fans ran out to see it opening day/weekend but for the casual audience the interest wasn't that great.

So will the rest of the films be shown in 3D? It is possible, they haven't said that they are canceling the whole thing.
But the cynical side of me think that this "delay" might be little more than a smokescreen. If the 3D versions are delayed until after the whole ST is done, then that would mean several years. By which time they might figure that people have forgotten about this. If 3D has really caught on then they might do it but if 3D has gone the way of LaserDisc then they might not bother and quietly let this slip into oblivion.

Why this smokescreen?
They know that outright canceling the whole thing will create bad blood between them and the fans and they don't want that. Also it could be seen that they lack confidence in their product. So instead they say "We are too busy now, we will get back to this later." This sounds reasonable and doesn't destroy hope. Then they can just let this slip into the cracks and fade away.

I hope I am proven wrong but we'll see.
The Guarding Dark

 

Excellent post.

Sadly, I think you're probably right where TPM 3D is concerned. It didn't tank, but it faltered; especially, as you say, domestically.

And I think this probably is just a tactic of theirs to appease fans and hope that the 3D releases are forgotten about in time.

It's conniving, but that's business for you.

 

There goes my hope for new Neimoidian figures this year...

"This deal's getting worse all the time..."

 

While its disappointing that the 3D releases have been "postposed" (which the media is gleefully calling it what it is: cancelled), it's more disappointing that LFL/Disney insults our intelligence with this "we want to put 100 percent into Episode VII" PR nonsense. The 3D conversions were being outsourced to Prime Focus with the work being done in India. The work on AOTC is done or near done. Jar Jar Abrams is still working on Trek for another four months, so even in the best case scenario actual shooting on the new movie won't happen until late fall at the earliest. So, LFL/Disney just can't afford to release a project that's already in the can because Ep VII is consuming all their time and energy? Really??? Are they shutting down The Clone Wars series too? Are they shuttering Detours and video game development? Are they shutting down the licensing and book divisions because it's just too hard to make a new movie with all these other distractions? Of course not. I'm sure there are valid reasons for postponing the release -- likely because Fox still owns the distribution rights until 2020 -- but the press release is an embarrassing fail.

As for other reasons, like the hateboy meme that Disney is just acknowledging the prequels suck -- that doesn't wash either. Disney just happily updated Star Tours with prequel content and they surely know that the series' youngest fans -- and their parents who buy them things -- tend to like the prequels just fine. I bet this is really about Disney not wanting to put out movies where 20th Century Fox is going to earn the distribution fees. That's simple and understandable. And if that's the case, they should just say so.

 

Are you sure about this?

 

Yes. http://www.primefocusworld.com/news...lm-and-lucasfilm-3d-conversion-star-wars-epis

 

And ILM was supervising it.

 

A few ILMers. Dennis Muren and John Knoll, specifically. But its not like they haven't been working on other projects too. It's not that all of ILM's resources and personnel were devoted to 3D conversions. Exactly the opposite. At CVI, they said occasionally ILM would have to supply clean background plates and other elements so that the conversion allowed the eye to "see around" objects, but the bulk of the work is being done at Prime Focus.

 

OK, thanks.

Well, anyway, to me it sounds like LFL want to re-evaluate their business plan, with the announcement of Episode 7 and J Abrams as its director (different than making resources available). That might potentially include focusing on Ep.7 marketing (or lack thereof), or delaying the 3D re-releases until they deem it's "right," whenever that is.

 

I'm skeptical EpVII marketing is a factor considering the film won't even be in front of cameras until well after the previously announced release dates of AOTC and ROTS 3D. They're going to market a film in the fall of 2013 that hasn't been shot and won't come out until 2015 or 16? If anything, you'd think they'd release the 3D versions as promised and offer an exclusive EpVII teaser interview or something as a promotion. Maybe as little as a "hey, we're making more Star Wars!!! It's going to be awesome!" short just to get people jazzed.

 

No, I meant, a marketing plan is a long-term plan, as far as I undertand. Maybe they'll want to release the 3D versions closer to the Episode 7 release, for instance. Or, maybe they have decided not to do Episode 7 in 3D after all, in which case they might decide to hold off until after the Episode 7 release. Just speculating, obviously.

 

Gotcha. I'm 100% certain this has only to do with the fact that Fox's distribution contract runs until 2020. I'll predict right now that this means there will be no re-releases, theatrical or home video, of the previous 6 movies until at least then. That's seven years of waiting, so strap in. I could be wrong (but I'm not ).