San Fran, CA Star Wars Saga coming to Blu-ray 2011

Via TheDigitalBits and Bill Hunt - Saturday April 17th, 2010:

This is a rare Saturday post with some important breaking news: Lucasfilm's Steve Sansweet has reportedly confirmed, during a panel today at the C2E2 comic convention in Chicago, that the company is now working on a Blu-ray Disc box set of all six Star Wars films loaded with extras, for release "in the not too distant future." We're awaiting any kind of official statement from Lucasfilm - one MAY appear on Star Wars.com in the coming days. Nonetheless, MANY people who were in the panel began Tweeting reports of the news almost the moment the words left Sansweet's mouth. IGN has also reported the news with an actual quote from Sansweet: "We have been at work for a couple of years working on - I won't call it the Ultimate Set because we keep finding stuff - but, a very full set of all six movies on Blu-ray with lots of extra material. We're finding all kinds of scenes from dailies that have never been seen before. Beyond all of those things that you know about... there are some real treasures." There is no other official information at this time, but we'll post additional details when and if they come in. HOWEVER...

Consider this Rumor Mill-worthy, but our own industry sources have actually been checking in with us in recent weeks on this very subject. Our latest information is that Lucasfilm tentatively plans the official Blu-ray release to happen in October 2011. Now, we've been hearing reports like this on and off for years, and until now little has come of it. So we've been waiting to say something here on The Bits until we had a hint of more official confirmation. But now that Sansweet has begun talking about the release, we feel more comfortable reporting on the word from our sources. Plans could obviously change and again, even though Sansweet has hinted that it's coming, none of this constitutes an official announcement. But if current plans remain unchanged, our sources say you'll be enjoying The Force in 1080p next October.

Again, we'll post additional updates as they come in. Stay tuned...

Let the speculation and debates begin on the versions, changes, edits, and extras.

 

Didn't Spike TV play the original trilogy in HD a couple years ago? If so, then there are a few lucky people out there that have the OT in HD on their Tivo's. I have the prequil trilogy on my Tivo, much more crisp than the Dvd version.

 

That is true. So that leads to the speculations on why hold off until next year or even 2012 is the HD prints already exist? One could be that Fox's big release on Blu for this year is the confirmed but without release date for the mega Alien Anthology set. And LFL could be holding off for the 35th anniversary of ANH.

 

Okay Alien Anthology megaset is coming out this Oct and Star Wars Saga officially announced at CV:

From blu-ray.com:

George Lucas Announces Star Wars Blu-ray for 2011
Posted August 14, 2010 02:54 PM by Juan Calonge


20th Century FoxConfirming earlier reports (see blu-ray.com, April 17), George Lucas himself announced today that the Star Wars films will be released on Blu-ray in 2011, in a six-movie box set. Speaking at the Celebration V convention in Orlando, Lucas said: "I wish I could say it was coming out this year, but it will come out next year." New, extensive special features will be featured, including documentaries, vintage behind-the-scenes moments, interviews, retrospectives and never-before-seen footage from the Lucasfilm archives.

One of those special features, a deleted scene from Return of the Jedi, premiered at the convention. In it, Luke Skywalker is seen asembling his new lightsaber before going to the palace of Jabba the Hutt.

"Blu-ray is the absolute best way to experience Star Wars at home ? in pristine high definition," said George Lucas. "The films have never looked or sounded better."

In an interview with the New York Times, Lucas said that the saga hadn't been announced before because he was waiting for mass adoption of the Blu-ray format. "We've been wanting to do it as soon as we possibly could, but we just wanted to do it when enough people would be able to buy it and see it," said the filmmaker.

Lucas also clarified that the original trilogy movies will be included as they were shown theatrically in 1997 and released on DVD in 2004 - i.e., the original versions will not be included. "You have to go through and do a whole restoration on it, and you have to do that digitally," he said. "It's a very, very expensive process to do it. So when we did the transfer to digital, we only transferred really the upgraded version."

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=4996

Link to deleted scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdJ0E7HbTKc

 

I think it was wise to cut that scene... Good as an extra but would spoil surprises in the way ROTJ is layed out with Luke and how he get's his saber into Jabba's. Also Vader Force-stalking from across the galaxy... kinda creepy...

 

From SyFy Blasre:

That deleted Star Wars scene? Mark Hamill says it ISN'T him
That deleted Star Wars scene? Mark Hamill says it ISN'T him[/b]

As part of the announcement that Star Wars would finally be coming to Blu-ray, George Lucas screened a never-before-seen clip from Return of the Jedi over the weekend, showing Luke Skywalker building his own lightsaber in a cave on Tatooine. But according to Mark Hamill?he never filmed that scene.

The deleted scene debuted at Star War Celebration V and shows Darth Vader telepathically urging Luke to join the Dark Side, while Luke constructs?and ignites?his own lightsaber.

But it turns out that Mark Hamill, when asked about the existence of such a moment at Comic-Con in 2009, said that "I never shot a scene like that."

Check out the brief interview below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XczClAxhCEM&feature=player_embedded

Does it matter to you that the scene that made audiences cheer over the weekend may have been shot with a stand-in? Or is it all just a part of the movie magic?

hmmm...I mean no surprise. Stand ins have been used all the time. But then again...

 

See.. that's just deceiving then... Saying it's an authentic scene but who really knows then WHEN it was made. I don't any of us like being deceived.

 

Damn, tags bolded everything, oh well.

Apparently in the Blastr comments, Mark was asked about the scene while he was at CV. Now he remembers filming it. So controversy is solved...or is it?

 

Yeah... Mark introduced the scene at CV, and I don't recall any indication that he didn't remember filming it or that it was not him. *shrug* Perhaps he did forget earlier. It has been over 27 years after all, and sometimes seeing something can jog your memory of something you've forgotten.

 

I just listened the Mark Hamill's interview on the lastest Forcecast from C5, and he said at first he didn't remember filming, but then he said he did remember it afterall.

 

I actually have information concern the authenticity of Mark Hamill's ability to recall things in general. One of my sources who's spent some time with Mark told me that the car accident just prior to ESB caused not only physical damage but also damaged his ability to remember overall. Therefore, it is possible that he really did just forgot about filming it. Regardless, with the information on hand, it's probably unlikely that we will be able to definitely prove authenticity one way or the other. It's possible but just seems odd it would surface now.

Still I will not be buying the Blu Rays... I'll gladly wait for something even better down the line. ^^