From the ‘Return of the Jedi’ Among 25 Eclectic Films Joining National Film Registry article linked above:-
“Little did I know when I started writing a tale about good, evil, friendship and the Force, it would become a lifelong journey of creativity, imagination and innovation for so many,” said filmmaker George Lucas. “A great honor of learning ‘Return of the Jedi’ has been included in the National Film Registry is knowing the original trilogy of the Star Wars Saga will be preserved in full as nominated by the public, safeguarded as part of our shared American Cinema heritage by our nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, the Library of Congress, and the National Film Preservation Board.”
^ Well… it is good to know that at least the LOC/NFR has quality copies of the theatrical cuts of the Original Trilogy.
Hey, George… is there another way you could somehow honour the public who nominated these three films, the same public that dearly love these films so much, as well as the countless talented artisans, craftsmen (and women) and crew… who worked on them, these three films which form an important part of world cinema so that everyone could view and experience these iconic, pioneering, and landmark movies… or “our shared American Cinema heritage” (as you yourself put it), once more…?
A similar article up on the official Star Wars website - ‘Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi joins the National Film Registry’
‘Find Star Wars in Copyright’ - 2022 LOC official blog post referencing the theatrical cuts of all 3 OT films being with the LOC.
‘What It Means for ‘Return of the Jedi’ to be in the National Film Registry’ - 2021 article from Film School Rejects.
The current status / ability to have a release of the unaltered theatrical cuts…
• 4K restoration on Star Wars - the restoration work undertaken by Lowry Digital / Reliance Media Works. & the 2019 SE 4K release.
• What’s the status of the Originals? (the theatrical cuts of the Original Trilogy) | Evidence of the OOT at Lucasfilm?
^ As confirmed by various sources at Lucasfilm, Fox & Disney over the years - including George Lucas himself; all the material and elements required for a modern high quality release for the unaltered theatrical version of the Original Trilogy are indeed available. ^
• BFI preserving OOT!! (2006 thread; re the British Film Institute - aka the BFI)
• Remember what Lucas said about the OOT not existing…? (2006 thread; the BFI preserving the theatrical cuts of all 3 OT films)
• OFFICIAL: Library of Congress had original prints replaced with 1997 SE (2010 thread; read Mrebo’s informative post)
• The Empire Strikes Back inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry (2010 thread)
• Return of the Jedi joins the National Film Registry (2021; copies of the theatrical cuts of all 3 OT films are now at the NFR/LOC)
^ There are more discussions and information on the above topic in the ‘Fandom: Threads highlighting efforts for an official release of the unaltered theatrical version of the Original Trilogy’ and ‘The Home Releases and Formats of the differing versions of the Original Trilogy’ categories of An Index Thread for Original Trilogy Discussion.
An OriginalTrilogy.com Timeline | a history of the site | the why & how it came to be… (2018)
❗ Some useful OT.com threads re the suppression of the theatrical Original Trilogy films ❗ (2020)
The 'Naysayer Guide’ by people who DON’T want an unaltered theatrical release of the Original Trilogy (2021)
❗ #ReleaseTheOriginalTrilogy | OriginalTrilogy.com’s enduring goal | How you can help ❗ (2021)
