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Do you think Disney will release the unaltered versions for DVD and blue ray? — Page 29

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Alderaan said:

Also, Robert Harris last posted about Star Wars on another forum in December. While he did not say anything specific, one could gather in an indirect way from his post that no OOT restoration is underway, or at least not one that he is aware of.

It’s possible that one could be completed and he simply does not know about it, but I really doubt that would be the case.

That’s my biggest question wrt Making Star Wars’ rumor. If an announcement is right around the corner then how the hell has LFL kept such a tight lid on it? Granted, MSW “can’t reveal their sources, blah, blah, blah,” so who knows.

Question:

When did we first hear word - even if it was just rumor at first - that the OT would finally be hitting dvd in 2004?

I remember the 2006 GOUT announcement. There wasn’t so much as a rumor about it until like the day before IIRC, so no need to refresh my memory there.

Then there’s the blu-ray, when did we first hear about that? My earliest memory is seeing the video of George saying “it’s coming next year” at the convention in 2010.

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The 2004 DVD was announced in February 2004 and released in September. So 6-7 months from announcement to release.

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Fang Zei said:

Alderaan said:

Also, Robert Harris last posted about Star Wars on another forum in December. While he did not say anything specific, one could gather in an indirect way from his post that no OOT restoration is underway, or at least not one that he is aware of.

It’s possible that one could be completed and he simply does not know about it, but I really doubt that would be the case.

That’s my biggest question wrt Making Star Wars’ rumor. If an announcement is right around the corner then how the hell has LFL kept such a tight lid on it? Granted, MSW “can’t reveal their sources, blah, blah, blah,” so who knows.

Question:

When did we first hear word - even if it was just rumor at first - that the OT would finally be hitting dvd in 2004?

I remember the 2006 GOUT announcement. There wasn’t so much as a rumor about it until like the day before IIRC, so no need to refresh my memory there.

Then there’s the blu-ray, when did we first hear about that? My earliest memory is seeing the video of George saying “it’s coming next year” at the convention in 2010.

The question is, how many industry people were talking about those before they were announced.

The Person in Question

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We’re forgetting that if this is happening, there has been a leak from a prominent industry person, Landis.

TV’s Frink said:

I would put this in my sig if I weren’t so lazy.

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CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

We’re forgetting that if this is happening, there has been a leak from a prominent industry person, Landis.

Right. We know for a fact that he was obviously referring to THE original cuts when he joked about it
"Disney was like, money on the floor!"

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 (Edited)

Honestly, the 2020 thing is reason enough for me to think Disney is just sitting on it.

Even if they waited until then to do a 4k UHD release (which I suspect they’ll do anyway since it will be a while before UHD even gets close to where blu-ray was in 2011), I think they might also hold back even on releasing the OOT on regular blu in the meantime. Their fear is probably that the fans will go out and buy a remastered OOT blu and then, several years from now, when they finally get the rights back and release the UHD, those same fans will shrug and say “nah, I’m good.”

It’s like that Wired magazine guy said ten years ago the week the GOUT was released:

“They’re not going to make the fans happy because the happy fan has everything he or she needs.”

Now, I should say I have no problem waiting, so long as they make it worth the wait. If Disney really is archiving every piece of Star Wars material, here’s how I’d want my ideal release:

For each of the OT films:

Disc 1: The “final” version.

Presumably this is what RMW was working on, a 4k scan of the o-neg with the 04/11 changes replicated/upscaled. Possibly this could have additional final tweaks, like if that rumor about Han shooting first again turned out to be true, for example.

Disc 2: The 1997 Special Edition

Since the '97 interpositives are presumably still in good shape, I would want a 4k scan of that as the starting point. It would ensure that the colors were how they looked in theaters in '97. If we’ve still got the cinema DTS discs floating around all these years later, remastering the '97 SE exactly as it looked and sounded should be relatively straightforward.

Disc 3: The original theatrical version

Ideally I would want them to hire someone like Robert A. Harris to supervise this, using strictly 1977-1983 material. I would only want them using the o-neg if there’s some foolproof way of only using the pre-97 material. He said rather confidently in a message board post several years ago that he could restore the original versions using the separation masters. Not quite sure what they would use to remaster the theatrical sound mix, perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I can chime in.

Anyway, I’d also want the theatrical cut of TPM, even if they had to do a scan of the '99 “o-neg” or the IP. The Imax version of AotC would be a bonus as well.

Hmmm, if we hear nothing at Celebration can we start a new petition?

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Fang Zei said:

Now, I should say I have no problem waiting, so long as they make it worth the wait.

Don’t take life for granted. We may not be here tomorrow or the next day.

And even if we personally never see it restored, our descendants might not either. You never know what can happen in the world in a few years. Restoring films might no longer be a priority, and suddenly a couple hundred years from now when some historian starts looking around for the original cuts of Star Wars, they might not exist. It’s even possible that the special editions might be so lowly regarded by future generations, that the films don’t exist…at all.

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Alderaan said:

Fang Zei said:

Now, I should say I have no problem waiting, so long as they make it worth the wait.

Don’t take life for granted. We may not be here tomorrow or the next day.

And even if we personally never see it restored, our descendants might not either. You never know what can happen in the world in a few years. Restoring films might no longer be a priority, and suddenly a couple hundred years from now when some historian starts looking around for the original cuts of Star Wars, they might not exist. It’s even possible that the special editions might be so lowly regarded by future generations, that the films don’t exist…at all.

Which is why I’m happy to watch Harmy’s work until suddenly someone taps me on the shoulder and says an official version is here. I hope it happens but I’m not going to spend my days worrying about it.

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TV’s Frink said:

Alderaan said:

Fang Zei said:

Now, I should say I have no problem waiting, so long as they make it worth the wait.

Don’t take life for granted. We may not be here tomorrow or the next day.

And even if we personally never see it restored, our descendants might not either. You never know what can happen in the world in a few years. Restoring films might no longer be a priority, and suddenly a couple hundred years from now when some historian starts looking around for the original cuts of Star Wars, they might not exist. It’s even possible that the special editions might be so lowly regarded by future generations, that the films don’t exist…at all.

Which is why I’m happy to watch Harmy’s work until suddenly someone taps me on the shoulder and says an official version is here. I hope it happens but I’m not going to spend my days worrying about it.

^This

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Whether they do it now and share the profit with Fox or wait three years and keep it (mostly) for themselves, I think Disney will inevitably restore the original versions.

There’s no good reason for them not to do so, especially when Harmy’s version is a widely known thing.

George’s statements over the last seven years seem to indicate he really doesn’t care anymore, and the fans reconstructed the movies without his help anyway. Even he needs to face the music eventually. John Landis’ statements seem to indicate Disney has no qualms about releasing the unaltered versions either. As he said, it’s “money on the table.”

Warner Brothers spent more than a million dollars restoring North by Northwest, a movie I’m sure a restored OOT would outsell. Disney need not worry about losing money.

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Fang Zei said:

Whether they do it now and share the profit with Fox or wait three years and keep it (mostly) for themselves, I think Disney will inevitably restore the original versions.

Just not convinced though Fang that big corporations think like that i.e. sitting on a product for three years; their bean counters are (rightly) going to want to maximise everything. Three years down the line, they’ll all be in new roles anywhere.

Don’t they want as much as they can, as soon as it’s possible feasibly?

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Quick side question:

I’m just throwing this out there for anyone who might have the answer, but do we know exactly why Fox loses the rights to the other five movies in 2020 as opposed to some other time?

Just to clarify, I’m not asking for an explanation of why they’re losing the rights. That much has been made clear. I’m just wondering why it’s happening in 2020 and not some other time. I’m also curious how we were able to figure this out in the first place. There was an article written on some website shortly after the Disney deal that gave the 2020 date, but I don’t think it was ever explained how the writer knew it was 2020.

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crissrudd4554 said:

TV’s Frink said:

Alderaan said:

Fang Zei said:

Now, I should say I have no problem waiting, so long as they make it worth the wait.

Don’t take life for granted. We may not be here tomorrow or the next day.

And even if we personally never see it restored, our descendants might not either. You never know what can happen in the world in a few years. Restoring films might no longer be a priority, and suddenly a couple hundred years from now when some historian starts looking around for the original cuts of Star Wars, they might not exist. It’s even possible that the special editions might be so lowly regarded by future generations, that the films don’t exist…at all.

Which is why I’m happy to watch Harmy’s work until suddenly someone taps me on the shoulder and says an official version is here. I hope it happens but I’m not going to spend my days worrying about it.

^This

Totally agree.

I had a real hankering to watch the OT a while ago and dug out the VHS copies I’d had for over 20 years. Watching them again using today’s tech made me realise how terrible the quality was and forced me to seek out Harmy’s versions. They really are superb and will last me until, in their wisdom, the powers that be release them again for all to enjoy.

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Fang Zei said:

Quick side question:

I’m just throwing this out there for anyone who might have the answer, but do we know exactly why Fox loses the rights to the other five movies in 2020 as opposed to some other time?

Just to clarify, I’m not asking for an explanation of why they’re losing the rights. That much has been made clear. I’m just wondering why it’s happening in 2020 and not some other time. I’m also curious how we were able to figure this out in the first place. There was an article written on some website shortly after the Disney deal that gave the 2020 date, but I don’t think it was ever explained how the writer knew it was 2020.

This article in the Hollywood reporter is the main source for the 2020 date, which is a solid source for industry reporting. A “fox insider” was apparently interviewed for the article.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tangled-rights-could-tie-up-384541

It’s also worth remembering that Disney has digital distribution rights to all but ANH.

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mutantchair said:

Fang Zei said:

Quick side question:

I’m just throwing this out there for anyone who might have the answer, but do we know exactly why Fox loses the rights to the other five movies in 2020 as opposed to some other time?

Just to clarify, I’m not asking for an explanation of why they’re losing the rights. That much has been made clear. I’m just wondering why it’s happening in 2020 and not some other time. I’m also curious how we were able to figure this out in the first place. There was an article written on some website shortly after the Disney deal that gave the 2020 date, but I don’t think it was ever explained how the writer knew it was 2020.

This article in the Hollywood reporter is the main source for the 2020 date, which is a solid source for industry reporting. A “fox insider” was apparently interviewed for the article.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tangled-rights-could-tie-up-384541

It’s also worth remembering that Disney has digital distribution rights to all but ANH.

So what? They have to give Fox money every time a digital copy of the Special Edition of a New Hope sells.
What would waiting till 2020 change? Nothing. They’ll have to give Fox money for every sale of Star Wars, Special Edition
or not.

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nickyd47 said:

mutantchair said:

Fang Zei said:

Quick side question:

I’m just throwing this out there for anyone who might have the answer, but do we know exactly why Fox loses the rights to the other five movies in 2020 as opposed to some other time?

Just to clarify, I’m not asking for an explanation of why they’re losing the rights. That much has been made clear. I’m just wondering why it’s happening in 2020 and not some other time. I’m also curious how we were able to figure this out in the first place. There was an article written on some website shortly after the Disney deal that gave the 2020 date, but I don’t think it was ever explained how the writer knew it was 2020.

This article in the Hollywood reporter is the main source for the 2020 date, which is a solid source for industry reporting. A “fox insider” was apparently interviewed for the article.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tangled-rights-could-tie-up-384541

It’s also worth remembering that Disney has digital distribution rights to all but ANH.

So what? They have to give Fox money every time a digital copy of the Special Edition of a New Hope sells.
What would waiting till 2020 change? Nothing. They’ll have to give Fox money for every sale of Star Wars, Special Edition
or not.

Actually, Disney can’t sell ANH digital copies at all. You can’t buy ANH on the Disney Movies Anywhere platform.

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mutantchair said:

nickyd47 said:

mutantchair said:

Fang Zei said:

Quick side question:

I’m just throwing this out there for anyone who might have the answer, but do we know exactly why Fox loses the rights to the other five movies in 2020 as opposed to some other time?

Just to clarify, I’m not asking for an explanation of why they’re losing the rights. That much has been made clear. I’m just wondering why it’s happening in 2020 and not some other time. I’m also curious how we were able to figure this out in the first place. There was an article written on some website shortly after the Disney deal that gave the 2020 date, but I don’t think it was ever explained how the writer knew it was 2020.

This article in the Hollywood reporter is the main source for the 2020 date, which is a solid source for industry reporting. A “fox insider” was apparently interviewed for the article.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tangled-rights-could-tie-up-384541

It’s also worth remembering that Disney has digital distribution rights to all but ANH.

So what? They have to give Fox money every time a digital copy of the Special Edition of a New Hope sells.
What would waiting till 2020 change? Nothing. They’ll have to give Fox money for every sale of Star Wars, Special Edition
or not.

Actually, Disney can’t sell ANH digital copies at all. You can’t buy ANH on the Disney Movies Anywhere platform.

Right, I have forgotten about this. Still, Disney has nothing to wait for, as Fox owns Star Wars forever, correct?

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nickyd47 said:

mutantchair said:

nickyd47 said:

mutantchair said:

Fang Zei said:

Quick side question:

I’m just throwing this out there for anyone who might have the answer, but do we know exactly why Fox loses the rights to the other five movies in 2020 as opposed to some other time?

Just to clarify, I’m not asking for an explanation of why they’re losing the rights. That much has been made clear. I’m just wondering why it’s happening in 2020 and not some other time. I’m also curious how we were able to figure this out in the first place. There was an article written on some website shortly after the Disney deal that gave the 2020 date, but I don’t think it was ever explained how the writer knew it was 2020.

This article in the Hollywood reporter is the main source for the 2020 date, which is a solid source for industry reporting. A “fox insider” was apparently interviewed for the article.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tangled-rights-could-tie-up-384541

It’s also worth remembering that Disney has digital distribution rights to all but ANH.

So what? They have to give Fox money every time a digital copy of the Special Edition of a New Hope sells.
What would waiting till 2020 change? Nothing. They’ll have to give Fox money for every sale of Star Wars, Special Edition
or not.

Actually, Disney can’t sell ANH digital copies at all. You can’t buy ANH on the Disney Movies Anywhere platform.

Right, I have forgotten about this. Still, Disney has nothing to wait for, as Fox owns Star Wars forever, correct?

True, but I can totally see their reasoning to wait until 2020 so they have to pay Fox for ONLY A New Hope. 2020 means they can release the other 5 with impunity, so they may be waiting to minimize payments to Fox.

Do I like it or agree with it? Heck no. They’re raking it in with The Force Awakens and Rogue One and will do it again for The Last Jedi. I’m just saying, I can see what Disney might be thinking.

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monkeyjb1988 said:

nickyd47 said:

mutantchair said:

nickyd47 said:

mutantchair said:

Fang Zei said:

Quick side question:

I’m just throwing this out there for anyone who might have the answer, but do we know exactly why Fox loses the rights to the other five movies in 2020 as opposed to some other time?

Just to clarify, I’m not asking for an explanation of why they’re losing the rights. That much has been made clear. I’m just wondering why it’s happening in 2020 and not some other time. I’m also curious how we were able to figure this out in the first place. There was an article written on some website shortly after the Disney deal that gave the 2020 date, but I don’t think it was ever explained how the writer knew it was 2020.

This article in the Hollywood reporter is the main source for the 2020 date, which is a solid source for industry reporting. A “fox insider” was apparently interviewed for the article.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tangled-rights-could-tie-up-384541

It’s also worth remembering that Disney has digital distribution rights to all but ANH.

So what? They have to give Fox money every time a digital copy of the Special Edition of a New Hope sells.
What would waiting till 2020 change? Nothing. They’ll have to give Fox money for every sale of Star Wars, Special Edition
or not.

Actually, Disney can’t sell ANH digital copies at all. You can’t buy ANH on the Disney Movies Anywhere platform.

Right, I have forgotten about this. Still, Disney has nothing to wait for, as Fox owns Star Wars forever, correct?

True, but I can totally see their reasoning to wait until 2020 so they have to pay Fox for ONLY A New Hope. 2020 means they can release the other 5 with impunity, so they may be waiting to minimize payments to Fox.

Right. Waiting would really have nothing to do with ANH and all to do with the others. If they are pursuing this at all, SW/ANH could indeed come before 2020 if they were staggering the individual movie releases prior to releasing a box set (to encourage double dipping, something I could absolutely see them doing either way).

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The only potential problem (from Fox and Disney’s end of things) with waiting until 2020 is not being able to sell us anything new in the meantime. Disney is conveniently side-stepping this problem with the digital release and the tnt deal, but that only covers non-physical (and non-theatrical) media.

I don’t see Disney waiting too much longer to put out their own movies (TFA, RO) on 4k Ultra HD. Once that happens, the fans are going to wonder what’s going on with the OT. It will be like what happened with the saga’s release on dvd where GL wanted to wait until RotS was also hitting the format, except this time it may actually happen with Episode IX and for entirely different reasons. It’s going to piss off some of the fans who want to enjoy I-VI in the highest quality possible as they wait for Episode IX, which is why I could see Disney authorizing a UHD release within the next couple years and simply letting Fox take their cut.

But now we’re back to the whole problem of people not really giving a shit unless the OOT is restored as well.

Which presents yet another dilemma for Disney. If they do acquiesce and release the OOT in the next year or so, even if it’s just on regular blu it leaves them with one less thing to sell people for the first time post-2020. Not as many people are going to want to rebuy it on UHD.

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 (Edited)

I found a better source for the 2020 figure… Disney’s official SEC filings for Q4 FY2013:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1001039/000100103913000164/fy2013_q4x10k.htm

“Prior to the Company’s acquisition, Lucasfilm produced six Star Wars films (Episodes 1 through 6). Lucasfilm retained the rights to consumer products related to all of the films and the rights related to television and electronic distribution formats for all of the films, with the exception of the rights for Episode 4, which are owned by a third-party studio. All of the films are distributed by a third-party studio in the theatrical and home video markets. The theatrical and home video distribution rights for these films revert back to Lucasfilm in May 2020 with the exception of Episode 4, for which these distribution rights are retained in perpetuity by the third-party studio.”

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Well it’s nice to finally know the exact month within 2020 when the rights to the other five revert fully to Disney.

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mutantchair said:

I found a better source for the 2020 figure… Disney’s official SEC filings for Q4 FY2013:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1001039/000100103913000164/fy2013_q4x10k.htm

“Prior to the Company’s acquisition, Lucasfilm produced six Star Wars films (Episodes 1 through 6). Lucasfilm retained the rights to consumer products related to all of the films and the rights related to television and electronic distribution formats for all of the films, with the exception of the rights for Episode 4, which are owned by a third-party studio. All of the films are distributed by a third-party studio in the theatrical and home video markets. The theatrical and home video distribution rights for these films revert back to Lucasfilm in May 2020 with the exception of Episode 4, for which these distribution rights are retained in perpetuity by the third-party studio.”

Well, THAT’S definitive. I’m sure Disney will work out something to include IV with any movie set, but I’m sure the accountants will want to wait until May 2020 to ONLY worry about IV.

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monkeyjb1988 said:

mutantchair said:

I found a better source for the 2020 figure… Disney’s official SEC filings for Q4 FY2013:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1001039/000100103913000164/fy2013_q4x10k.htm

“Prior to the Company’s acquisition, Lucasfilm produced six Star Wars films (Episodes 1 through 6). Lucasfilm retained the rights to consumer products related to all of the films and the rights related to television and electronic distribution formats for all of the films, with the exception of the rights for Episode 4, which are owned by a third-party studio. All of the films are distributed by a third-party studio in the theatrical and home video markets. The theatrical and home video distribution rights for these films revert back to Lucasfilm in May 2020 with the exception of Episode 4, for which these distribution rights are retained in perpetuity by the third-party studio.”

Well, THAT’S definitive. I’m sure Disney will work out something to include IV with any movie set, but I’m sure the accountants will want to wait until May 2020 to ONLY worry about IV.

Disney will never release Star Wars individually, even if the rest of the Saga and/or Original Trilogy will be released by Disney.

Fox will probably release Star Wars and maybe it will have matching artwork but Disney won’t do it.

Disney can, however, include Star Wars with the rest of the Saga and/or Original Trilogy in a box set as long as they have permission from Fox.

Disney already did it with The Incredible Hulk (Universal) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One box set and with Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (Eastern Star Media/Discotek) in The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki box set and they had permission from the companies that distributed the respective films from their respective box sets as well as the fact that Disney owns every other movie in said box sets.

In The Incredible Hulk, Disney didn’t author a new disc, they just recycled the same content from Universal’s disc.

Though with Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, they did author a new disc just so it will have the same menu style as the other Studio Ghibli Blu-rays by Disney and so it won’t have bonus features like the other movies in the Hayao Miyazaki box set.
They also used a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 version of the remastered audio mix from the 2014 Japanese remastered theatrical reissue which was only in a lossy form in the US standalone and Japanese Blu-rays.
And they also upmixed the Streamline dub to 5.1 for their box set but they only duplicated the mono channel in all of the speakers.

So maybe the Star Wars Blu-ray by Fox can be also authored similarly to the other movies.

And I’ve loved every pixel of it.
(Clarissa Darling, Clarissa Explains It All)

You’re so right.
(Kylo Ren, Star Wars: The Force Awakens)