I saw the new poster for the rerelease on Reddit today. Right now, it’s one of the most active threads on the site, for a reason that I’m sure a lot of people here will be proud of: Pretty much all the comments are demanding a release of the theatrical OT.
As a member of the site that created the Despecialized versions, it was so satisfying to go through that thread and see all the people saying things like “Will this be the original version?”, or “I wish Disney would release the original versions”, or “This is why I only watch Despecialized”. There are even people spreading the news about the 4K77 project to people who think Despecialized is still the best option to see the original movies in HD.
I thought people had pretty much stopped caring about the theatrical OT, but I think this proves that there’s still a ton of demand. If Disney releases the original versions, people will watch them. It’s a shame that they probably won’t.
Yeah, it’s very telling of how many people care about seeing the original movies. It flies in the face of the claim that “Only a tiny vocal minority want those versions.” Many fans put up with the Special Editions, but if given the chance to buy remasters of the original cuts, they absolutely would.
George’s own friends Steven and Francis included all three versions of Close Encounters and Apocalypse Now on 4k. Even just last year the 4k rebuild of the director’s edition of Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released in a special deluxe edition that included the “special longer version” originally cut together for home video in the 80’s along with the 1979 original, both also in 4k.
Even if they never want to release the older versions in theaters again, they’ll eventually run out of ways to repackage the same altered movies to us again and again on home video.
Also, it’s rather uncool of them to commission such a retro poster meant to evoke 1983 when we all know it once again won’t be that version.