Has the Library of Congress got its archival copy since GL sold LF ?
Don’t they have a print and a 2k scan of the first film? I thought I remembered hearing last year that you could make an appointment to view the digital copy.
LOC has the copyright deposit that is required by law to be submitted for every copyrighted film ever. What they don’t have is an archival-quality print for the National Film Registry.
Edit: the film registry being a subset of films selected by LOC (25 inductees per year) for special preservation. As per the law as passed by congress, film prints stored in the national registry must be of the original theatrical presentation. Star Wars was a first-year inductee in 1989. Lucas didn’t offer a print for archiving until after the SE was released, and he offered a '97 print. Archiving this print was a clear violation of the law, hence it was declined, and no print has been archived by the National Film Registry. Same for ESB, inducted in the 2010 class. ROTJ has not been selected for preservation.