I know it was released in pan-and-scan on VHS, Betamax, and Laserdisc in 1982, but was it ever released in widescreen? I have heard the 1985 mix wasn’t on Laserdisc until later but I have also heard the 1985 mix was included in the Japanese Special Collection Laserdiscs. Any information on this is greatly appreciated.
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I have already asked this in Theatrical Cuts vs. Subsequent Releases but I didn’t get an answer to my question. This is an interesting subject to me, because the original Dolby Stereo mix was on pan-and-scan releases in 1982, but I have never heard of a widescreen release with the Dolby mix. The first widescreen release of A New Hope was on the Japanese Special Collection Laserdiscs in 1986, but they had the 1985 mix. However, I have heard (correct me if I’m wrong) that some Laserdiscs released after the Special Collection had the Dolby mix. The question is, is this true and were any of them widescreen? I am asking this because I wonder what would be closest to the 1981 theatrical re-release, since the only home video release with the original crawl were the 2006 bonus discs, and those have DVNR and the 1993 audio mix.