CT Will Disney Re-Release Theatrical Cut Of The Original Trilogy?

We know there's a 4k master of A New Hope (Gareth Edwards saw it when he first started pre-production work on Rogue One a few years ago), and likely of the entire OT, but according to Pablo Hidalgo it's of the SE.

 

Sounds like it didn't happen. Can't say I'm surprised though. I still wouldn't worry, we'll get an OOT official release someday. That much I am sure of.

 

One thing is for certain: Given George's appearance at the con they couldn't possibly announce any release of the OOT. Would have been like having cake and eating it, too...

But that would have been an interesting situation, George sitting at a panel while the OOT is announced. The subsequent flood of questions would habe been sufficient to bust the Hoover Dam...

 

I would love for this to happen but Disney would need to negotiate deals with Fox due to the fact they own the rights to every Star Wars film expect TFA and R1 which can end up to be pretty expensive.

 

They have reissued the OT twice on blu-ray as well as digital since Disney bought Star Wars. I don't see the problem.

 

So we didn't get an OOT announcement at Celebration. Oh well. Still, I surprisingly enjoyed the 40 years panel regardless. Anyway, maybe I'm just being foolish here, but I still think we're going to get an announcement this year. But it'll be some kind of random announcement made through the internet rather than a convention.

 

To bad PymParticles we didn't get the OOT announced. I'm starting to think we'll never see it AntMan. Did you like the trailer we got on Friday?

I was really impressed by what we got on Thursday. It was sort of like "This Is Your Life" George Lucas Star Wars Edition. I really enjoyed watching everyone see and interact with George. The ending tribute to Carrie Fisher was fantastic. And I was blown away when the curtain went up and there is John Williams with a full orchestra onstage. I've never been so surprised by something on live television (Okay streaming internet) in my life. That was so satisfying for what it was and for what it wasn't. Neither Lucasfilm or Disney were overtly selling anything. Nothing new was announced. It was a celebration of the Star Wars Universe of George Lucas I loved. it.

Now here's a questions - if you met a Geniene and it gave you a choice to pick one of two wishes - which of these would you pick. 4k Remaster of the OOT or a reture of TVC action figures? Which would you pick?

 

Yeah, I'm pretty tired of it all too, the false rumors, the disappointment. The May 23rd issue of Star Wars Insider will feature a piece on the theatrical release of the SE in 1997:



After having been a fan of the franchise for decades, having spent a small fortune on the films, the merchandise, etc, the fact that they just don't care, is a a bitter pill to swallow.

 

Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid Yeah, it's disappointing, but what're you going to go? On the plus side, I did enjoy the 40th anniversary panel as it was; it was a touching and loving tribute to forty years of the series, and I'd be lying if I said I watched the tributes to Carrie Fisher with dry eyes. In hindsight, I actually think it was appropriate that they didn't bring out the OOT or any other product during the panel. And The Last Jedi looks fantastic, I absolutely cannot wait. I've lost track of how many times I've rewatched the teaser since Friday morning and now. Oh, and to answer your genie question: 4K OOT, no question.

DrDre It's disheartening, but to be honest I've detoxed myself from it a lot since Thursday. If it eventually happens, cool, I'll be first to pre-order it, but it's just not worth getting my hopes up over every little rumor or every convention hoping that this time is the charm. It really does seem like whether or not it gets released is up to Lucas, per Pablo Hidalgo's tweets, so I'm not necessarily going to pin this on Kathleen Kennedy or any of the others at Lucasfilm, who I think have done a remarkable job with the series up to this point. And I'm still a fan. It's not an ideal situation, but it's not like I'm going to stop loving the series or the OT. Watching the panel really drove home how much joy Lucas' brain child has given me since I was a toddler, really. It's annoying that this is his stance on the films, but I do understand it even if I don't like it, and I'm not going to let it mitigate the good he's done. To quote Luke from the teaser, I'm going to "Breathe... just, breathe."

 

I really hope they do release it eventually, but if not, it's very easy to get great quality copies "unofficially". Which I'm more than happy with.

 

Can I retcon my attitude to Disney re-releasing the OOT in the style of 2016/201? . Just for laughs

I hope they don't do it because they will cut out and replace everything in the trailers for ANH, ESB and ROTJ and ruin the films that they might have been. In fact it's worse than that since several key shots (best shots in the movie, probably) in the ESB trailer are not in the movie , and have Disney committed to putting them back in? Well their silence on the subject is defeaning

 

No, Lucasfilm owns the rights to all of the films except for ANH. Lucas financed the other five films and had it written that he would retain ownership. Fox only has distribution rights, but they're expiring or have expired. ANH was financed by Fox and as such, they own it indefinitely. Disney can try to buy it, but at best, they'll just continue to negotiate Blu-Ray reissues and any theatrical re-releases.

 

My thoughts on getting hopes up can be summed up with one picture that I saw on reddit:

Spoiler

Basically, I keep hoping/speculating that it'll happen soon, though I never really feel bad each time it doesn't happen. But for real, I do think it's coming soon. Too many factors are pointing towards it to ignore. We'll see.

 

I agree. We just have to stop setting ourselves up for disappoinment by making predictions when it will happen. Keep letting the powers that be know that it's in demand and it will work itself out when it's supposed to.

 

Fox owning distribution rights won't complicate things that much. They'll just get their cut for basically little to no work

 

I'd look to DVD and Blu-Ray websites as the first places verifiable rumors about theatrical releases on home video will come from. Those sites work directly with studios and personally know people working behind the scenes. So they are working with inside information more than rumors. And those sites usually give clues way before anything is official - even if it's a bit cryptic. I wouldn't trust Sequel Trilogy news and rumor sites. A lot of their stories are just speculation that don't amount to anything. Which is the nature of what they are reporting on.

All major Blu-Ray sites said OOT on home video in 2017 story was false.

There are enough rumors, I think it's safe to believe one of the last things George Lucas did at Lucasfilm was make new 4K transfers of the Star Wars saga to create his final edition of each film. But exactly what these changes are or when we'll see them is unknown. There we similar rumors far in advance about CGI Yoda in TPM, a new CGI Jabba in ANH, and other changes.

 

Was the new CGI Yoda in TPM a rumor, or did we just find out about it out of the blue when "The Chosen One" featurette was released on the ROTS DVD?

 

I think it was rumored first. And "The Chosen One" feature gave further proof of the change. But there was still speculation that was just a test.

I was hoping we'd see clips of the OT at Celebration that could be identify as the 4K remasters. As far as I know that didn't happen.

We were even getting stories as early as 2009 that accurately reported Lucasfilm gearing up for a Sequel Trilogy and 3D releases of the Star Wars Saga - this didn't involve a sale to Disney yet, but the opening of Lucasfilm sound stages adjacent to Skywalker ranch.

 

If things were really happening then it's likely some actual information would get out.

The 4K versions were taken to be originals since they were called restorations.

Best place to debut them would be with the complete saga sets after IX comes out. Then Disney can release everything under their banner (save for ANH) including the 4K versions.

 

CG Yoda in TPM was a test for ILM staffers to prepare for ROTS, since Yoda was going to have more screen time and do more. But Lucas felt that it would be better to change him and ultimately did so for the Blu-Ray and 3D releases. Before that, there was just speculation based on the fact that Lucas changed thing as he did in 97 and when the 04 DVD set came out. But changes in a film is different from talking about a big release like the OOT. Especially if LFL wanted to do it this year, the 40th anniversary of the release of ANH. There's only one more ripe time to release it and that's when TLJ comes out.

 

I don't think we'll see those at all this year. Why not announce it at Celebration? And the big home video sites have all come out to say "Our sources all say a big NO" for these movies coming out this year.

 

Which big video sites?

 

The DigitalBits and Blu-Ray.com are two of the best informed.

Here's DigitalBits article that puts the nail in the OOT Coffin for 2017 published back in February.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/022417-0100

 

The digital bits article actually doesnt put any nails in the coffin. The current state of the negatives was already known and the fact that they are still conformed to the SE's is irrelevant, because for the restoration they would simply scan the negatives and then all the original cut elements and assemble the original cuts digitally. Besides, I've talked to Bill Hunt recently. He doesn't know anything and was merely speculating in that article.

 

I like it. Keep keeping your hopes up. Don't give up the ship. But I'm going to go with the facts on this -- OOT is not happening in 2017. Alas.

Do you have anything you can share with us to convince me otherwise?