So the Criterion Channel will be hosting this movie next month. Bet they’ll sacrifice their integrity and participate in Lucas’ historical revisionism like TCM do now. I’d love to be wrong though.
It’s going to be the new version, yes; https://youtu.be/1x6sOHzgIyw?t=7
Though I personally would go so far as to say “sacrificing their integrity.” There’s hardly anything they or TCM can do about it. They “rent” the film from the company that owns them (Fox? Dinsey? I’ve lost track) and the new version is what they’re given. They’re probably counting their losses as the film is at least available in some fashion.
Then they should choose not to show the movie at all, though I confess that for financial reasons, that’s probably not possible.
I doubt there’s any serious financial loss for not showing the film. They probably feel that it’s better for people to see the new version of the film than to simply never see it at all. If I was in their place I’d do the same thing. Better that people see an (obviously) altered version than to never be exposed to it at all. It’s a really weird situation that thankfully only apply to a handful of films.
I’d feel that now showing the film is better than showing that abomination, but hey, I’m on this website, so I would 😉.