Originally posted by: Vigo
How would you treat it, if it would be one of your very few sources of income? You forget, beyond Star Wars, Lucas hasn´t achieved much more. Yeah, Indiana Jones.... He has to pay a lot of money to keep Lucasfilm going. Star Wars are the most expensive independent films made.

I'd release two editions. A theatrical version and a special (or extended) edition. I'd release them both (maybe separate the release schedules by a year, but no more) and not only in a box set. Release each movie separately and have both versions be fully remastered. Put a ton of extras on the special editions and maybe a few on the theatricals. After that, I'd move on and create something else. What I would not do is continue tinkering with any of the movies for years, releasing a new edition on DVD every so often to cash in again. Do it once and move on.

If I had to pick examples for comparison, I'd say do it T2 collector's edition style (seamless branching) or LOTR style (theatrical and EE 6 months apart). Have each movie available separately and as part of a box set. Make the box set slightly cheaper than buying the 3 separate. That way, if someone wants all 3, they're getting a discount. But Joe Blow that only wants one movie doesn't have to get all 3 either.

And if you want to get into issues with negatives and crap, I would have ensure there were 3 backups of the movie once the restoration had been completed and none of those 3 backups would ever be allowed to be touched.

That's how I'd treat it if it were something that I'd created.