Just found the post by DavidMDaut on page 3 and I think this is why a specific thread is still not a bad thing as I originaly read the OP of that thread and a few comments from page 1 and then thought awesome but I don’t need to read all 5 pages and subsequently missed the news about George until coming across that video. So I will edit my OP to be more of an headline with a quote and link to the discussion in that thread, just for anyone else that also decided not to dive right into that thread and missed that tidbit about some big news 😉
Just got out. Program began with Rogue One introduced by John Knoll. Super neat, but that’s not why you’re here.
John Dykstra introduced a 70mm print struck for the UK but never screened (I heard someone say it was ‘81, but the date was never formally stated). It was never screened because the first time it was projected, the print tore, and thus there was about two seconds of pretty major damage right as the Death Star blows up, but otherwise, the print was immaculate. Minimal damage and virtually no fading. “A New Hope” was on the crawl, but otherwise, it’s the original film.
Apparently, after some convincing, Lucas himself signed off on the Academy showing this version of the film. That’s huge, because he has firmly not allowed the original version to be publicly screened since before 1997. What does that mean for future releases? Who can say, but this screening is something that seemed impossible just one week ago.