I doubt that Disney or Lucasfilm would ever release Mike Verta’s project.
I’d love to see Verta’s project, but I’m not sure I want to see it as the official release. It looks better than the original film did, and I just want to see a good restoration of the original matte work from Lucasfilm.
Huh? Mike Verta’s project is a restoration of the original film. What else would you want?
This video is an example of the kind of subtle enhancements he’s doing that go beyond restoration:
https://vimeo.com/117582796
The original shot carries a lot of artifacts of the special effects process, going through the optical printer several times. The flickering, jittering X-wings are are rotoscoped to get an impressive smooth motion. It’s accurate to the original intent — but arguably isn’t accurate to the original film.
Verta has said he’s comfortable “fixing” things he considers production mistakes, like garbage mattes. “I plan elminating everything that changes the drama, ruins the suspension of disbelief, or alters the characters. Things like Darth Vader’s missing saber glow were simply production missteps, and are not crucial to the drama. Ditto with the “garbage mattes” seen around various ships, or the off-color blobs seen below the landspeeder. I have no problem seeing them fixed.”(http://www.starwarslegacy.com/archive/site/pages/FAQ.html)
He may have changed his goals since then, and I haven’t followed the project too closely, so please correct me if I have the wrong idea.