Star Wars on Blu in 2011? — Page 3

Lucas specifically writes in the liner notes only that he has "restored" the movie, which might be a new level of 1984 newspeak even for him. (It's a much more thoughtful and subtle re-working than Star Wars got, but it sort of fumbles near the end zone with the cgi monkees replacing the midgets.)

I sold off my THX-1138 two-disc dvd some months back after hearing early word of a 2010 release date for the blu-ray. Looks like that date is somewhat more official now.

Sucks how WB can give us a Terminator Salvation blu-ray with each cut on a separate disc and not do the same thing for THX.

Terminator Salvation doesn't have Big Brother controlling it.

Skynet made Terminator Salvation?

http://www.skynet.net/

2 words

3D blu-ray (or is that 3 words) i bet there is no star wars release until the 3D versions are completed then shown theatrically for the 35th anniversary then there will be the blu release by then 3D will either be passe or the norm (in terms of unavoidable when buying a new tv or blu-ray player) star wars only comes out on new formats when saturation has been proved unfortunately

pjvader said:

2 words

3D blu-ray (or is that 3 words) i bet there is no star wars release until the 3D versions are completed then shown theatrically for the 35th anniversary then there will be the blu release by then 3D will either be passe or the norm (in terms of unavoidable when buying a new tv or blu-ray player) star wars only comes out on new formats when saturation has been proved unfortunately

What I really wouldn't be surprised to see happen (and, at the same time, have no idea how they would financially pull off) is what you're saying right here.

Someone wrote an article not too long ago about how Star Wars is the second highest grossing movie of all time in terms of domestic box office if you adjust for inflation (Gone with the Wind being the highest). All GL needs is to re-release it one last time and he's got his world title.

Avatar's massive box office success has probably made a 3D conversion of Star Wars an inevitability, honestly. The blu-ray spec was updated to allow 3D content to be stored on the discs, and the players are rolling out this year. The new spec requires that the discs be backward-compatible for the players that can't do 3D.

LFL, if you're reading this (and you're most likely not), I would be willing to spend between 30-40 dollars per movie for a blu-ray that has the following:

-Disc 1: Final / Most recent version

-Disc 2: '97 version

-Disc 3: original

I'd still love to know the exact way it breaks down among the decision makers at  LFL. Not between doing the cool thing and the dick move because obviously that went out the window long ago, but between the two ways of milking the situation. (the Star Trek/Lord of the Rings method of original version now, specials later OR the weirdo cult thing where there's only one true gospel version at any given time that comes down from the mountain at an anointed time with great fanfare) Is it just Lucas on one side, with everyone else grumbling about it, or is it like Mr. Burns and a room full of Smithers'?

Baronlando said:

Is it just Lucas on one side, with everyone else grumbling about it, or is it like Mr. Burns and a room full of Smithers'?

I can guarantee it ain't a room full of Frinks, as cool as that would be.

its some ILM'ers playing with footage on their lunch breaks and if lucky enough what they do gets shown to george on occasion and then if its passed by him as a "neat little idea" i.e. hayden as a ghost its a done deal or at least thats how it was done around the time of the dvd's (a little fun fact the footage of anakin as a ghost was actually shot and scheduled for the episode 3 shoot it may look like a simple outtake was used but actually took a while to setup and shoot! and still ended up looking like it was done by an intern on a lunch break)

I'd be interested to see what direction Lucas goes with the BluRay release of the SW movies in the next few years.

The reason I say this is if you watch the Jon Stewart interview with Lucas last month, Lucas made a point of saying there are 2 SW fanbases, the OT fans and the PT fans, so he is aware that many fans prefer one trilogy over the other.

I always though the way Lucas talked during the Episode III release is that it was one story, no trilogies, just 6 movies only.  But to see them re-release the OT on DVD last year in new boxart, yet they STILL sold them as 2 trilogies!  They could have easily re-packaged the movies in one Saga Boxset, but chose to sell them still as two trilogies. 

He also said that there is a third group of fans, who are little kids and only know the franchise through the Clone War cartoon. Scary thought. There's like four generations of Star Wars fans now, no wonder the fandom is so fractured.

As far as a Saga boxset, LFL people have been pretty explicit that they are holding that off until they can do some super-elaborate release thing. The trilogy boxsets are just barebones, discount-priced things to make some money in the meantime, I wouldn't read too much into that. I could see them releasing seperate trilogies on BR afterall, but I doubt the current existance of DVD trilogy sets is any indicator of that. I doubt Lucas even knows those exist--he stays out of company business except for special releases as far as I can tell.

CO said:

The reason I say this is if you watch the Jon Stewart interview with Lucas last month, Lucas made a point of saying there are 2 SW fanbases, the OT fans and the PT fans, so he is aware that many fans prefer one trilogy over the other.

 

Yeah that was interesting. We know LFL market-researches the shit out of everything, he's probably looking at data we aren't privy to. That plus the Clone War kids who are all about the cartoon makes it a real mess if he insists on releasing it only as a definitive "tragedy of anakin saga box".  The sales pitch essentially becomes: Hey everyone! Spend 180 bucks on this! You'll only hate some of it!

Lucas promised us years ago that there'd be a six movie boxed set when all six films were done, and he still hasn't followed through on that. It makes me mad, but on the other hand I hope that when it finally happens it's because he actually bothered to take his time and give all six films the optimal image quality and bonus features. If Lucas released a six pack consisting of just the existing 2-disc sets that have already been out for quite a while, I probably would not buy it, as much as I would love to have a big fancy sleeve to keep all six movies in.

I honestly doubt that the movies won't be available individually when they hit blu-ray. Despite what George and Rick have been saying since '99, they and the rest of LFL know all too well how people feel about the movies and they're not gonna be stupid about how to make money off this release. Sure, there will probably be a saga boxset you can get, but they won't limit the options to that or even just two trilogy boxsets. My prediction is that the movies will be available individually and in a six-film set.

Now that we have such things as Netflix and RedBox coupons, I can honestly say I won't buy this, nor pay full price to rent it.

Now if it did have the properly restored OOT, I might consider getting it, once it hits the bargain bin... but I probably won't be "blu-ray ready" for the foreseeable future.

If they try to sucker us again with one disc that has new/improved content of the originals, one can always wait until it hits amazon/ebay as a stand alone at a fraction of the overall cost.

Once the movies do hit blu-ray, expect MULTIPLE releases, just like he's done with every other video format they've been on. Mark my words...

And as for a six film, 12 or 13 disc set. Who would want that in one box? Those things are so freaking huge, they don't fit properly in a DVD rack (you need a bookshelf or mantle instead). Anything thicker than the LOTR:EE's (four discs each) won't fit. Sure, you can cram it, but it just makes it that much more inconvenient when you want to take the movies out and watch 'em. What's more important, being able to do that, or to show off the box to your friends? (wait, don't answer that, Star Wars fans!) ;)

re: what sky said,

That's why it would be nice for each of the three films to get a 3-disc blu-ray. If Lucas releases his most recent version of the trilogy in theaters (and c'mon you know he eventually will, the 3D craze would certainly give him an excuse), that could be what ends up on the first disc. The second disc could be the '97 version (mastered from the '97 IP's) and the third disc would be the original version. This would be a nice historical preservation of the three theatrically released versions of the movies.

There are 3-disc blu-ray cases that some of the studios use that don't even take up any more space than the ones that hold 2-discs or even 1-discs, so Lucas doesn't have much of an excuse there.

And guys, lemme just say it:

At this point, there's no question in my mind that when the OT hits blu-ray he'll AT LEAST throw in the remastered original versions. Each set will be at least two discs, mark my words. He KNOWS the money he'd be losing by not including it. Think of how many people will go out and buy blu-ray players just for this!

Yeah, maybe we won't get '97 Jabba, Luke's Cloud City scream and a "Galactic Celebration" sans Naboo and JarJar, but the originals will be there.

Oh, and 2012 would make the most sense at this point. It's the 35th, and blu-ray will have been on the market for just about as long as dvd was back in '04.