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Star Wars trilogy box sets coming next year?

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Now that the Disney acquisition of Fox is complete, this means Disney now owns Star Wars A New Hope, which means they can release Star Wars sets. There’s probably going to be a huge set coming in May 2020, with the release of Episode IX on disc and its streaming service. All three trilogies will be released in May 2020. We might hear something at Star Wars Celebration, or we may not. I have a feeling we will though. You’ll probably be able to buy the trilogies separate, as well as a big set of all 3 trilogies.

Who’s looking forward to something like this? I’m curious about the artwork that will be on these sets. What would you like to see? What would you like to see in the sets themselves?

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Part of me suspects Disney will put out TFA, RO, and I-VI on UHD in time for IX’s theatrical release. It seems weird that they would let these last nine months before the grand conclusion of the saga go by with only Solo and TLJ available on the highest quality format.

I’d like to think they would finally include the unaltered cuts of the OT at the very least, and who knows, maybe they finally will. As I’ve said many times, I just don’t see a 4k SE-only release selling anywhere near as many copies as one that included the unaltered version.

My vote would be just go all out and give each film the Blade Runner treatment. We heard several years ago that Lucasfilm was scanning in every last piece of film in the archives anyway. I’d love it if they threw in the ‘97 versions of the OT, the theatrical versions of the PT, and the Imax cut of AotC.

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I think getting a new boxed set or sets by the time of the home video release of IX is almost a foregone conclusion. I also imagine TFA and R1 will be out in UHD well before that, in the run-up to IX’s theatrical release. I-VI are the real question. I could see it going either way, with them being released in the fall to build hype for the new film, or in the spring to cash in on the completist urge that many of us will have with the full ST in 4K on our shelves. Celebration will tell, I guess (or it won’t; I’ve got a terrible track record for these predictions).

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What we want - the ultimate all cuts edition like Blade Runner or other restoration style releases

What we will get - the reboxed SE saga discs with the sequel trilogy thrown in to maintain brand continuity

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No doubt there will be releases of every movie in the format within the year or so. What have the Disney catalogue 4K releases been like so far? That’s probably the smartest thing to go off of.

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The most reasonable box set would probably be this:

-The Phantom Menace (Blu-ray upscale)
-The Phantom Menace 1999 (New 4K transfer)
-Attack of the Clones (Blu-ray upscale)
-Attack of the Clones 2002 (New upscaled transfer)
-Revenge of the Sith (Blu-ray upscale)
-Revenge of the Sith 2005 (New upscaled transfer)
-A New Hope SE (Blu-ray upscale)
-A New Hope OOT (New 4K transfer)
-The Empire Strikes Back SE (Blu-ray upscale)
-The Empire Strikes Back OOT (New 4K transfer)
-Return of the Jedi SE (Blu-ray upscale)
-Return of the Jedi OOT (New 4K transfer)
-The Force Awakens (New 4K transfer)
-The Last Jedi (Existing 4K release)
-Episode IX (Upcoming 4K release)

The theatrical versions of all the films would be included, but the cost of having every version would outweigh the demand.

My preferred Skywalker Saga experience:
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

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I doubt we’ll ever get an official release of the 2005 ROTS. It’s just too close to identical to the BR release.

For AOTC, the 35mm version would be a possibility, as would the IMAX cut, but I doubt they’d make a distinction between the DLP and DVD/BR versions.

Then there’s the question of TPM and the OT’s “middle children” (2001 TPM with extended scenes and CPY; OT 97 and 2004), which are possible, too.

It’s more likely IMO that we’ll get the original theatrical cuts sans ROTS (77, 80, 83, 99, 02 [35mm]), and the “final” cuts of all of them alongside (2011 BR versions), with all the middle versions omitted. With the IMAX AOTC possibly thrown in for good measure.

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I’ll buy remastered versions of the theatrical versions of SW '77 & TESB the moment I happen upon them in a local thrift store. I don’t care what else they come with; that crap I’ll toss out.

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ChainsawAsh said:

I doubt we’ll ever get an official release of the 2005 ROTS. It’s just too close to identical to the BR release.

For AOTC, the 35mm version would be a possibility, as would the IMAX cut, but I doubt they’d make a distinction between the DLP and DVD/BR versions.

Then there’s the question of TPM and the OT’s “middle children” (2001 TPM with extended scenes and CPY; OT 97 and 2004), which are possible, too.

It’s more likely IMO that we’ll get the original theatrical cuts sans ROTS (77, 80, 83, 99, 02 [35mm]), and the “final” cuts of all of them alongside (2011 BR versions), with all the middle versions omitted. With the IMAX AOTC possibly thrown in for good measure.

Isn’t the wipe back in the RotS bd or am I remembering wrong? The dvd turned it into a cut, unless of course that cut was already present in the dlp version. The 35mm version definitely had the wipe. I also saw the dlp version of RotS but can’t say with any confidence whether it had a cut or a wipe, but I want to say it was still a wipe.

That little bit of info that came to light recently about the Kashyyyk rooftops is too trivial of a difference to me. It’s the same basic bear, Homer.

AotC now has like five different cuts. The 35mm and dlp cuts would’ve been virtually identical in terms of running time with the only notable difference being Anakin and Padme holding hands in that closeup shot at the end in the dlp version. The dvd extended Anakin’s confession to Padme in the Lars Homestead garage and the imax version edited the movie down to 120 minutes to fit within the maximum running time of the 15/70 film platters in 2002. Finally, the 2011 version re-arranges the order of certain shots in a couple scenes. I’m fine with losing the dlp and dvd cuts and just keeping the final version (with some proper color-grading this time) and the 35mm version (the digital filmout tapes could hopefully still be read after all these years as they were for TPM back in 2011) with the imax cut thrown in on a regular ‘ol bd (I wouldn’t even care if it was a tad compressed sharing disc space with other bonus features, I just want to finally see that version after all these years).

I don’t care about losing the ‘01 version of TPM. Just give me the oldest and newest versions of the prequels with proper color-timing. For each of the prequels, both versions could easily be branched onto the same disc. The OT films would need separate discs for the original versions.

Speaking of the OT, I don’t mind losing the ‘04 versions but I’ll be sad when they probably don’t go full Blade Runner and omit the ‘97. Would love to be surprised, though.

What I strongly suspect will happen are individual 4k UHD releases for I-VI, TFA, and RO by the end of the year. It would only make sense since they already put out TLJ and Solo on 4k day and date with their bd and dvd versions. Whether they end up being barebones 4k upgrades or actually finally give us what we want remains to be seen. I kinda strongly suspect even more that Disney will milk this thoroughly and wait until the end of 2020 if not 2021 (they gotta make sure everyone buys a copy of IX next Spring) to finally include a restored OOT in the great big $200 box set you’ll need to buy just to get it.

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It doesn’t really make sense for them not to release the OOT (but then again here we are without anything), but I personally would be a little surprised if they put out the theatrical PT. TPM maybe, as it’s the only one with obvious changes. But I doubt we’re at a point anymore where studios care about home releases all that much to be that completionist.

And by the way, if we’re talking completionist, what about the 70mm ESB?

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DominicCobb said:

It doesn’t really make sense for them not to release the OOT (but then again here we are without anything), but I personally would be a little surprised if they put out the theatrical PT. TPM maybe, as it’s the only one with obvious changes. But I doubt we’re at a point anymore where studios care about home releases all that much to be that completionist.

And by the way, if we’re talking completionist, what about the 70mm ESB?

Oh, I fully accept that the theatrical version of TPM is little more than a historical trivium at this point. CPY is the only thing of note that’s been deleted from the movie. It’s still basically the same otherwise, and that also goes for the entirety of AotC (where we simply get a little more of the movie in the aforementioned Lars Homestead garage) and RotS.

It would be very easy, though, to simply include the other versions of the prequels via branching. Even the imax cut of AotC could be branched and included as an easter egg you have to enter a code to watch, just like that third version of T2.

Anyway, what’s so special about the 70mm ESB? Didn’t ANH also have picture and sound differences between the 35mm and 70mm versions?

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Fang Zei said:

Anyway, what’s so special about the 70mm ESB? Didn’t ANH also have picture and sound differences between the 35mm and 70mm versions?

Sound, yes, picture, no. ESB is the only one to have visual/editing differences between 70mm and 35mm, which was just down to a few VFX shots in the final scene being unfinished when the 70mm prints were struck IIRC.

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If it weren’t for our anger at the burying of the OUT, would anyone here care about completionism with the prequels? There are probably tons of movies with tiny little changes like this on home media that no consumer ever noticed.

TV’s Frink said:

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

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ChainsawAsh said:

Fang Zei said:

Anyway, what’s so special about the 70mm ESB? Didn’t ANH also have picture and sound differences between the 35mm and 70mm versions?

Sound, yes, picture, no. ESB is the only one to have visual/editing differences between 70mm and 35mm, which was just down to a few VFX shots in the final scene being unfinished when the 70mm prints were struck IIRC.

I seem to recall reading there were also slightly different scene transitions between the two. Some of the audio changes were carried over to the SE. ‘It’ll keep you warm until I get the shelter up’ ‘You were lucky to get out of there’ etc.

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Weird Science Jabba needs some HD/4K love. 😛

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

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CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

If it weren’t for our anger at the burying of the OUT, would anyone here care about completionism with the prequels? There are probably tons of movies with tiny little changes like this on home media that no consumer ever noticed.

I think if it was an all-in-one set or nothing just to own a restored OOT most people would be happy to buy it but never watch the prequels.

As for the other movies you mention, at least when a director’s cut exists it is advertised as such. They don’t pretend nothing happened and expect everyone to believe changes made decades later were always the same. Only something like Amadeus is only available in one format (the longer version) but at least it’s always labelled correctly.

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Mocata said:

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

If it weren’t for our anger at the burying of the OUT, would anyone here care about completionism with the prequels? There are probably tons of movies with tiny little changes like this on home media that no consumer ever noticed.

I think if it was an all-in-one set or nothing just to own a restored OOT most people would be happy to buy it but never watch the prequels.

As for the other movies you mention, at least when a director’s cut exists it is advertised as such. They don’t pretend nothing happened and expect everyone to believe changes made decades later were always the same. Only something like Amadeus is only available in one format (the longer version) but at least it’s always labelled correctly.

From time to time I have to remind myself of that quote from that guy from Wired magazine from the week the GOUT hit shelves:

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

They made everyone who wanted the OT deleted scenes buy the expensive complete saga blu-ray set just to get them. Why give each OT film its own multi-version 4k package when they can just make the OOT exclusive to the I-IX box?

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crissrudd4554 said:

ChainsawAsh said:

Fang Zei said:

Anyway, what’s so special about the 70mm ESB? Didn’t ANH also have picture and sound differences between the 35mm and 70mm versions?

Sound, yes, picture, no. ESB is the only one to have visual/editing differences between 70mm and 35mm, which was just down to a few VFX shots in the final scene being unfinished when the 70mm prints were struck IIRC.

I seem to recall reading there were also slightly different scene transitions between the two. Some of the audio changes were carried over to the SE. ‘It’ll keep you warm until I get the shelter up’ ‘You were lucky to get out of there’ etc.

In theater audio recordings of 70mm ESB screenings have proven the “SE carryover” dialogue differences wrong (and proven the final scene differences correct). Here’s a thread about it.

msycamore said:

Fantastic to finally be able to hear how close it really was to the regular 35mm Dolby Stereo in terms of content, whining snowspeeder, shelter built, the same “the first transport is away”, you’re lucky you don’t taste very good, I know where luke is etc. are all in the 70mm as well. Even the few extra lines and alternates heard here and there in the '97SE that many have claimed to be 70mm dialogue are not present.

Haven’t listened to it from beginning to end yet, but the quality of the recording wasn’t bad at all. What a damn fine job you did capturing this piece of SW-history and sharing it with us 30 years later! Simply amazing!

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ChainsawAsh said:

Fang Zei said:

Anyway, what’s so special about the 70mm ESB? Didn’t ANH also have picture and sound differences between the 35mm and 70mm versions?

Sound, yes, picture, no. ESB is the only one to have visual/editing differences between 70mm and 35mm, which was just down to a few VFX shots in the final scene being unfinished when the 70mm prints were struck IIRC.

Yes but the shots weren’t unfinished, they didn’t exist. The film that was released 5/21/80 was the 70mm. After it came out Lucas realized it needed three extra shots to better establish the spatial geography in the final scene and ILM complied. They were added to the 35mm prints which weren’t screened until a month later.

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Ah, okay, that makes sense.

Looking through the thread I linked, it seems like there may have been some picture differences here and there that didn’t affect run time or audio at all (bacta scene is edited differently, some optical wipes ended up as straight cuts in the 35mm, there are straight cuts instead of dissolves in the Luke/Vader telepathy scene, and the missing Falcon radar dish under Cloud City), and then the final scene as described, plus a couple different sound effects here and there.