CO said:
Mielr said:
Maybe I'm being a bit too optimistic, but Lucas' position on the OOT seems to have softened a bit. The fact that he used the cost of restoration as an excuse, and not the "my vision" argument, makes me think that there may be a chance down the road, when the OT is eventually released separately, and they need an incentive to have people buy them all over again.
It's funny you said this because I thought the same thing after my initial anger of hearing about the SE-only boxset.
My only rationale is Lucas isn't including the OOT in this set, because that will give him a selling point for the next BluRay release.
Alot of the SE-defenders say, "Well, he isn't in it for the money, or he would release ALL the versions to maximize his profits." Lucas maybe stubborn, but he isn't stupid, and we should never believe anything he says because he did release the OOT on DVD (albeit a crappy version) after saying those versions don't exist.
My theory: If Lucas says the OOT will be remastered down the road, more fans will hold out for that release. If he says the OOT is too expensive to remaster, then alot of people on the fence will relent and buy this edition. Then in 2013, Lucas decides to remaster the OOT, and he doubles dips for a bigger profit.
As I said, the man is stubborn, but he aint stupid when it comes to making money.
There's yet to be a movie that involves a Blu-Ray double-dip that I know about. I'd like to hold out optimism for such a thing, but I just doesn't look likely, and even if it does happen, the memory of the GOUT suggests that things wouldn't look good if it did.
captainsolo said:
Mike O said:
There we go folks. It's coming. And sans the OOT. Lucas says that that's just not what he wants, and his word is judge, jury, and god. It's over. It's done. They're gone. We've lost. R.I.P. Star Wars.
Never.
We can say that all we want, it's academic now.
20th Century Mark said:
I agree about Lucas sounding a little "softer" about the OOT. Maybe the sales from this set will help him pay for the OT remastering. Like he needs help, but it does let him sell them all over again.
How does he sound "softer" about anything? The man's a fucking billionaire. He doesn't "need" money for anything. He could wave his hand and have the OOT restored by next month. He doesn't want to do it. He's not going to do it. The end.
Fang Zei said:
I look at it this way:
Ever since '05, there's been lots of clamoring for a complete I-VI saga boxset, and that's exactly what this blu-ray set will finally deliver. With the help of deleted scenes, this will sell fairly well. It may not do comparable first day business to the '04 set in terms of number of copies sold, but the doubtlessly huge price tag from the extra three prequels will make up for it.
After that, well, I really don't see what else there is to dip with. It looks pretty clear to me that we're seeing a repeat of what happened with these movies on dvd.
Anyone remember what happened on DVD? The non-anamorphic laserdisc masters? Let's face it guys, it's going to take a miracle, and we're all fresh out. As for the assertions of "what's left?" Clone Wars and the other T.V. series, toy sales, comics, books, and other tie-in stuff.
More to the point, all of the fans who've cried that they'll never buy anything again are going to be suckered in by the deleted footage and such. What Lucas really needs is a kick in the ass of massive undersales of people who say "fuck it," and don't buy it without the OOT. I'd like to believe that with BR still being a bit more of a fanboy format, that he'd take a dent, but smart as he is, Lucas waited until it found some mainstream market penetration so as to avoid such a situation. More to the point, restoring the original versions would cost considerable money and given the niche market for them, Lucas probably just doesn't see it as a viable business move.
