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Post #1304241

Author
CatBus
Parent topic
StarWarsLegacy.com - The Official Thread
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1304241/action/topic#1304241
Date created
10-Nov-2019, 2:17 PM

IMO, the OOT has been out of circulation for all but the most devoted fans for over twenty years now. On the home video front, it’s skipped three generations of video tech, not including streaming services, where it’s also unavailable. Even old-time fans, unless they’re holding onto a VCR or a Laserdisc player, probably don’t watch it anymore – it’s only an even smaller subset that have ever viewed our preservations (I suppose there’s also the GOUT, but I don’t think that abomination set the world on fire either). And it’s not just missing, it’s been substituted with another product that some certainly think is close enough – so there’s often little sense of a gap that needs to be filled. If it ever did come back, it would be a niche product. Its clear superiority does not guarantee it will overcome decades of sentimental attachment to the only version of the films most of a generation has ever known.

For this reason, I disagree it would be like printing money for Disney. A proper restoration costs a lot, and they’d be getting stiff market competition from their own products. Furthermore, Lucas still expresses a strong desire that the OOT be suppressed, he’s widely regarded as the creator of the OOT, and studios tend to defer to the creator’s wishes for already-successful properties, even if they’re stupid wishes, and when they’re under no contractual obligation to do so. Lucas not being at the helm doesn’t mean he has no influence on the question of the OOT.

So basically IMO we’re waiting for copyright expiration and a public domain release when it comes to the OOT. A couple screenshots in a book is not a sign of the wall crumbling.