ChainsawAsh said:I still say just using the 3-strip archival prints would be fine for the OOT - many films have been transferred at very high quality using similar prints, without ever touching the o-neg.
If they're 3-strip B&W separation negs then they'd be useful (if they were made properly- otherwise they're unusable), but if they're Technicolor IB prints (which is the impression I got) then they aren't good for striking new negatives, because the dye is too dense (according to Robert A. Harris, anyway). They're really only useful as color reference (and that only refers to SW, since the dye-transfer labs were long gone by the time ESB and ROTJ were made).
Besides, I think all of the information given to the public about the condition/availability of elements to make new OOT prints is highly suspect. They've only told us what they want us to know, in order to foster panic to justify their actions with the SEs (and inaction with the GOUT). I don't trust anything the Lucasfilm stooges put out there- it's like a dictatorship.