4K restoration on Star Wars — Page 22

gizzy2000 said:

Fang Zei said:

Right, but also I was thinking about how '97 was the last time we got any kind of re-release coinciding with an anniversary. They don't seem to care about that kind of thing anymore when it comes to re-releases of the actual movies.

 That's true, there was no 30th anniversary thing either. Plus, I bet the only reason we got 20th anniversary stuff was because GL wanted to use it as a gimmick to sell the SE. Hopefully we'll get the OUT before Episode VII, by 2015 we'll be overdo for an SW re-release.  Seriously I can't remember the last time we went more than 4 or 5 years without a release of the OT, it was even more often when leading up to the PT. We got the OT released in '95, then the SE in '97, and then another SE in 2000 with the only difference being that Episode IV, V, and VI were added to the box art.

Yup. The SE was originally gonna happen in '96 and Episode I in '97 for the 20th, but when George realized Episode I was gonna take a lot longer he pushed that back to '99, pushed the SE to '97 and they came up with Shadows of the Empire to have something big in '96.

Now we're getting Episode 7 in ..... 2015.

Fang Zei said:

Jaitea said:

Fang Zei said:

The only thing this Atlanta screening might've been the "first" of is a dcp made from the 2011 version, which in any event is still based off the 2004 Lowry master.

I agree that the RMW job was probably in preparation for the 3D conversion of the OT, which I would bet Disney is still gonna do.

It costs about $10 million to convert a two-hour movie to 3D. Each of the OT movies would at least do the same box office as TPM 3D, so I don't see Disney passing up that opportunity.

 Don't forget it was Disney that pulled the plug on the 3D re-releases

.....hopefully they have better plans for the new scans

J

They "pulled the plug" (not how they phrased it) for obvious reasons when they announced Ep7 was happening in 2015. They were gonna put out one movie a year, then it was gonna be AotC and RotS a few weeks apart in September/October 2013, then the Disney deal happened and priorities changed.

All they ever technically said was that the rest of the 3D re-releases were being postponed indefinitely.

I still think they'll at least do a 3D theatrical re-release of the OT at some point between now and Ep7. They'll make serious money off of it anyway and it makes sense from a nostalgia standpoint. Yeah, it'll be the SE again, but from a new scan and with better-looking picture and colors. Like we've discussed in this thread, a lot of people out there don't really care about the different versions of the movies. Hell, the $40 million or so that TPM 3D pulled in shows that people apparently don't even care which installment it is.

But a 3D trailer from a well-done conversion job of a nice new 4k master would blow audiences away, I think. Disney is undoubtedly considering this, at the very least.

 I don't think they'll do a 3D re-release.

I think a cinema release of a 4K remaster (like Taxi Driver/Jaws etc) in 2D before episode 7 is more likely, because episode 7 is being shot on film. What better way to build trust with the OT audience than to release the original trilogy remastered in 4K? It also lines up with their marketing efforts for episode 7 (i.e. life sized ships/models, filming on proper sets/locations, shooting to both 35mm and 65mm like the original film (Lucas used 65mm for the visual effects shots to maintain better image quality)).

Minority Report was scanned in at 6k and finished at 4k for its 2009 remaster. Since it was shot in 2001 (for a 2002 release) in Super 35, it probably had that much "resolution" on the neg to work with.

They did the same thing for Raiders in 2012.

Since we know that this RMW job was done at 4k, it could very likely be from a 6k "oversampling" scan of the o-neg as well.

If this scan was originally for a 3D re-release, then it's certain that GL would've added all his Special Edition crap. So, when Disney inherited this project, would it have been possible (or convenient) for them to turn the project around for an OUT restoration? Or is that an unlikely thing for them to do?  

The o-neg, in its current conformation, is still 85 to 90 percent of the OOT. With today's digital technology it would be relatively straightforward to use a new scan as a starting point and then just scan in the missing pieces and put it all together.

Fang Zei said:

The o-neg, in its current conformation, is still 85 to 90 percent of the OOT. With today's digital technology it would be relatively straightforward to use a new scan as a starting point and then just scan in the missing pieces and put it all together.

 Well, hopefully that's what they'd do. Especially if you're right about there being an OOT release before Ep. VII, and I think you probably are since it's the most likely time for another home video release, and I doubt they'd not include the unaltered films

But if they DO include the unaltered films - what would be the canon version?

GlastoEls said:

But if they DO include the unaltered films - what would be the canon version?

 I don't think they'll comment on the canon version. It doesn't even matter really, who cares if it's canon whether or not the wolf man was in the cantina or not. As long as they include the unaltered films in high quality, I'll be happy

gizzy2000 said:

 who cares if it's canon whether or not the wolf man was in the cantina or not.

 You called ? I was there man, I swear it !

As long as they include the unaltered films in high quality, I'll be happy

Right on !

GlastoEls said:

But if they DO include the unaltered films - what would be the canon version?

 It would be the pristine 70MM I saw in 1977, of course!   ;-)

To me, the real versions will always be canon, and the SE's will always be the versions George Lucas shat on. If the only way to get HD releases of the original trilogy is to say the SE is canon, then that's fine with me. I'll watch the OUT and be happy, and I'll never say anything about the SE again; and people who want the SE can watch that, and everyone can happily watch Star Wars again, with both versions happily coexisting on the same disc.

Frankly, I wish the powers-that-be would just leave it up to the individual fans to decide for themselves which versions of the films are canon. Forcing "official" versions on everyone is just elitist bullshit that serves only to alienate fans.

DuracellEnergizer said:

Frankly, I wish the powers-that-be would just leave it up to the individual fans to decide for themselves which versions of the films are canon. Forcing "official" versions on everyone is just elitist bullshit that serves only to alienate fans.

As long as which version is canon doesn't affect the spin-offs, episodes 7-9, and the new EU, I agree with you.

DuracellEnergizer said:

Frankly, I wish the powers-that-be would just leave it up to the individual fans to decide for themselves which versions of the films are canon. Forcing "official" versions on everyone is just elitist bullshit that serves only to alienate fans.

 I agree with you. I think that, especially with the prequels and SE's, just let people make up their own mind. I can't blame Disney though for wanting to retcon the EU since it gives them a lot more freedom with making their movies. I just make up my own canon and backstories, and ignore the ones I don't like; honestly, I wouldn't have anything bad to say about the prequels or SE's if I just had the OUT available in HD. All of my hate for the SE came from the fact that I couldn't have the OUT on anything but 20 year old vhs tapes.

Great point above - I also would feel much more generous to the prequels if I had a quality OUT Blu-Ray.

GlastoEls said:

Great point above - I also would feel much more generous to the prequels if I had a quality OUT Blu-Ray.

 Exactly, sometimes when I would complain about specific SE changes to people they'd say, "well, then don't watch it, just watch the originals" (I don't watch the SE anymore thanks to people like Harmy & dark_jedi) but that's the thing, the reason I complained about the SE's was because I was stuck with them and COULDN'T watch a decent quality copy of the real OT. I guess it's mostly in the past now, but hopefully Disney will release the OUT. The "Despecialized Editions" are great but IDK how to put them on a disc, and I'd love to have a BD release of the OUT with all the bonus features that came with the SE blu ray release. The special features in the '11 box set looked interesting, but I swore back in '04 that i'd never buy the SE again, and no amount of bonus features is worth purchasing anything SE related, at least not for me.

moviefreakedmind said: I think with Disney in charge the SE isn't going to disappear, but it's just going to be a bonus feature, maybe even eventually getting phased out and ignored completely.

If Disney does to the SE what Lucas did to the OOT, I would miss the celebrations and music at the end of ROTJ.

I think what Disney should do, is release the OOT in all it's unaltered glory in HD; and go into the SE and keep the changes like updated Death Star battle, celebration in Jedi, ect. ect. but change back the really stupid things no one likes such as Han shooting second, Vader saying "NOOOOOOOO", rock in front of R2, and just get rid of the really really ridiculous things and release it that way. I doubt they'd do that but I think that would be the best way of selling the SE. I do agree with moviefreakedmind (that's a cool username by the way) that the SE's will probably be included, but won't be the main selling point of the hopefully inevitable OUT release and more of a bonus feature instead. As for Disney hiding the SE in a basement and never letting anyone see it again, I don't think we have to worry about that, this isn't Lucas we're dealing with.

GlastoEls said:

Great point above - I also would feel much more generous to the prequels if I had a quality OUT Blu-Ray.

 Yeah me too. But I really can't see Disney releasing any version of their own making. anything they put out will be either 2011, or '97, or original (ideally), or maybe some final cut that George signed off on.

Baronlando said:

GlastoEls said:

Great point above - I also would feel much more generous to the prequels if I had a quality OUT Blu-Ray.

 Yeah me too. But I really can't see Disney releasing any version of their own making. anything they put out will be either 2011, or '97, or original (ideally), or maybe some final cut that George signed off on.

 I don't think they'll do a final George approved version, at least not before Episode VII because even the biggest SE apologists don't approve of things like Vader saying NOOO or the extra rock in front of R2, and by 2011 it had gotten to the point where that was all Lucas was interested in changing. I think it'd be a huge PR mistake for Disney to release ANY future OT release without at least including an acceptable quality OUT. There's been more outcry from the fans with each SE release, so much so that there's even a critically acclaimed documentary (People vs. G.L.) about how SW fans have gotten the short end of the stick, Disney has to know about stuff like that. As for how the 4K restoration relates to an OUT release I really have no idea, but hopefully the real OT is right around the corner

All of this is dependent upon the futile assumption that Disney actually gives a crap.

They don't.

The only reason they would ever release the original versions is if it made financial sense: that is, if someone were able to persuade them they stood to make a lot of money by doing so.  Given that anything they put out will make lots of money simply by having the name 'Star Wars' on it, regardless of whether or not it's any good, the likelihood of them bothering becomes vanishingly small.

They have no stake whatsoever in whether people like a particular version or not, because as far as they're concerned, they don't have to bother to do anything at all to make a profit at this point.  The work has already been done, from their point of view.  Clearly, alienating a percentage of longtime fans isn't something they're concerned about, given the way they annihilated all the post-RotJ stories that have ever been published in the past two decades.  They cater to the mainstream who don't know or don't care about such things, and that's all.

It saddens me to see people continually getting their hopes up about all this, only to have them repeatedly and inevitably dashed.  At this point, fan preservation efforts are the best we'll be able to watch for the forseeable future; and given the level of quality that has been achieved recently, it's not hard to be content with that.  The only reason to care about official releases anymore is for the sake of people who don't know about such things, and for posterity.

Very well said, HH, and I totally agree with it.