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Do you think Disney will release the unaltered versions for DVD and blue ray? — Page 4

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jankatana said:


Sorry to cut in, but i totaly agree with you. For the past couple of days ive been hunting around for the best version of the original trilogy all cleaned up and remastered, but its impossible without all the goofy lucas additions, now i have found this place it confirmed my worst fears, that star wars is gone.

 Not entirely.  Peruse the restorations section of the forum.

"Close the blast doors!"
Puggo’s website | Rescuing Star Wars

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Will do, gonna have a go tomorrow :) thanks

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Well I tried contacting them, and this is what I got back:

Hello Frank,

Thank you for your email. We value your interest in Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment!

The Star Wars Trilogy is currently unavailable and no re-release date has been set. We would be happy to share with the rest of our team that you would like to have this available for purchase again! Your feedback helps us build a better experience for all of our guests and is truly appreciated!

To see what great titles are currently available and coming soon, please visit www.disneydvd.com!

If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to reply to this email. You may also contact us at 1-800-723-4763 (Canada: 1-888-877-2843), Monday 9:30-7:30 and Tuesday through Friday 9:30-6:30 CST.

Sincerely,

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Consumer Relations
US and Canada

Ol’ George has the GOUT, I see.

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That seems like a typical 'lol it's in moratorium for the next couple of years' Disney response.

I'd be shocked if they didn't release a special Platinum Edition within the next year or so. They've gotta get a version out there that has the 'Walt Disney Pictures' music at the beginning instead of the Fox fanfare, lol.

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Well, at least they referred to it as the Star Wars Trilogy, not the Star Wars Original Trilogy ('cause let's be honest -- there's really only one Star Wars trilogy, and that crap released from 1999-2005 sure as Hell isn't it).

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I was convinced Lucas was gonna eventually get around to it before any of this Disney business happened. The guy reversed himself on so many other subjects. Why would the OOT be an exception?

Now that Lucasfilm is part of a larger corporate entity, I'm all the more convinced it's gonna happen. The o-neg might not be the best starting point anymore, as skyjedi pointed out. Robert A. Harris should definitely be consulted on some level.

To me, they have two options to create a Blade Runner style ultimate set:

-They do a new scan of the o-neg. Right there, you've got the '97 version. They could then use this scan to do a "final cut" equivalent for the inevitable 3D/2D theatrical re-release. The tedious part would then be using the source scan as a basis for reconstructing the OOT.

-The other option is what they did for Blade Runner, using the new o-neg scan only as a basis for the final cut, meaning: color-time it however you want, cut it however you want, "fix" whatever you want. But I would sure hope this ends up the final revision of the movie, and I would think GL would want this as well. The guy won't be around forever, and considering how many times he's changed it I would think he'd want one last go at it before he literally can't anymore.

The '97 version could be scanned off the '97 IP. Assuming they don't ruin it with DNR, you'd have a nice transfer of how the SE's looked, restored colors and all.

The OOT could then be scanned from the best available source(s), be they IP's or seps. This is where Robert Harris' advice would really be useful.

Of course, there's no guarantee Disney won't just cheap out and continue to use the decade-old Lowry master (one that was really never good for theatrical exhibition), holding it up as the best the films will ever look, a "digital negative," et cetera. I'm probably letting the fact that the Indiana Jones movies got new scans get my hopes up when it comes to Star Wars. Hell, even Willow got a brand new transfer for its blu-ray release.

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Perhaps I should've mentioned that in my letter. Just to be doubly sure they get through to us.

Ol’ George has the GOUT, I see.

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I would give Spielberg and Ron Howard the credit for Indy and Willow having some actual effort put into the transfer. 

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I had no hope that the OOT would ever be released properly until Disney bought the franchise.

Just look how they re-shaped Episode 7 from Lucas/Arndt's first draft, as they are making Han, Luke and Leia more prominent in the movie. 

This is just a guess, but I wonder if they release the OOT on BluRay for Christmas of 2015 to coincide with the release of Episode 7?  This movie is made for the OOT generation, so what better time to release the OOT?

As for the legal wrangling with FOX and Disney as to who has the home video rights to the movie until 2019, that is a whole other discussion......

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CO said:

This is just a guess, but I wonder if they release the OOT on BluRay for Christmas of 2015 to coincide with the release of Episode 7?  This movie is made for the OOT generation, so what better time to release the OOT?

 I'm thinking the 40th anniversary is the most likely time. And in all likelihood, it will be a Fox release with no contribution from Disney, sort of like their way of saying "screw you" to Lucas for selling Star Wars to Disney. I also think it's likely that it will only be included in an expensive box set, possibly including the PT and the most recent cuts of the films. 

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Fox can probably reissue the movies as many times as they want so long as they still retain the video rights. (They did new BD/DVD combo packs last year.) Much the same way Spike continues to run the entire saga until their broadcast rights expire later this year.

Whether Fox could release the OOT without Lucas' blessing is unlikely. They might be sitting on some prints, but George has everything else in the vault.

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Wazzles said:

CO said:

This is just a guess, but I wonder if they release the OOT on BluRay for Christmas of 2015 to coincide with the release of Episode 7?  This movie is made for the OOT generation, so what better time to release the OOT?

 I'm thinking the 40th anniversary is the most likely time. And in all likelihood, it will be a Fox release with no contribution from Disney, sort of like their way of saying "screw you" to Lucas for selling Star Wars to Disney. I also think it's likely that it will only be included in an expensive box set, possibly including the PT and the most recent cuts of the films. 

Waiting until after Episode VII to re-release IV-VI seems unlikely to me, anniversary or not. I'd think Disney would probably work out a deal with Fox to get the 3D versions in theaters September/October of 2015 before putting out a blu-ray with all versions on it in December to coincide with Episode VII.

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I'm hoping they simply transfer theatrical prints in the best condition and then do minimal cleanup. So that we could see the films exactly as they looked like in theaters. Now it wouldn't look as good as going from the original negative but there's always the question of what things if any, need to be recreated, such as compostions and color timing adjustments.

If people want the digitally restored from the negative version, they could always watch the new versions.

If Disney uses a theatrical print, there's far less ways to screw it up. Otherwise they might miss subtle differences or changes. EX: Right before the first lines in Star Wars, wasn't the camera shake on the Tantive IV enhanced during making the prints? So that it would be steadier on the original negative?

I just think the people who really want to see the unaltered versions aren't the type of people who have to have their movies ultra restored with no dirt and grain whatsoever.

Take back the trilogy. Execute Order '77

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deepanddark20 said:

If Disney releases the OUT, will they replace the 20th Century Fox fanfare/logo at the beginning? Even if the entire rest of the movie after that is the unaltered theatrical version, it still wouldn't be acceptable to me. I'm already having a hard enough time accepting the fact that every Star Wars movie from now on (starting with VII) will not open with the fox logo/fanfare... if Disney removes it from any of the previously released movies, I won't buy a copy.

 They probably wouldn't. Warner Bros. didn't replace the MGM logo at the start of the original Tom & Jerry cartoons.

Ol’ George has the GOUT, I see.

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Fang Zei said:

I was convinced Lucas was gonna eventually get around to it before any of this Disney business happened. The guy reversed himself on so many other subjects. Why would the OOT be an exception?

Why wouldn't it be an exception? Not that it really matters, but what was it exactly that George did that made you so convinced?

The guy had destroy orders on original prints FFS...

We want you to be aware that we have no plans—now or in the future—to restore the earlier versions. 

Sincerely, Lynne Hale publicity@lucasfilm.com

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FrankT said:

deepanddark20 said:

If Disney releases the OUT, will they replace the 20th Century Fox fanfare/logo at the beginning? Even if the entire rest of the movie after that is the unaltered theatrical version, it still wouldn't be acceptable to me. I'm already having a hard enough time accepting the fact that every Star Wars movie from now on (starting with VII) will not open with the fox logo/fanfare... if Disney removes it from any of the previously released movies, I won't buy a copy.

 They probably wouldn't. Warner Bros. didn't replace the MGM logo at the start of the original Tom & Jerry cartoons.

 It could go either way. When Disney briefly had the video rights to The Dark Crystal in the 90's, they lopped off the Universal logo, along with the opening notes of the soundtrack! It's been intact on all Sony/Columbia versions.

They might have done something similar with the Muppet films, but I haven't watched my LD's in a while.

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msycamore said:

Fang Zei said:

I was convinced Lucas was gonna eventually get around to it before any of this Disney business happened. The guy reversed himself on so many other subjects. Why would the OOT be an exception?

Why wouldn't it be an exception? Not that it really matters, but what was it exactly that George did that made you so convinced?

The guy had destroy orders on original prints FFS...

Lucas has always been far more anti-episode VII than anti-OOT. Lucas said, "There never was going to be an episode VII and my will forbids episode VII from ever being made."

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I agree, a "half" special edition with souped up sabers and explosions would be great, but not adding anything that wasn't there,like new ships, new music, ugly fake looking CGI aliens, etc. plus, they NEED to restore the original end to "Jedi" without that new dweeb.

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darklordoftech said:

Might Disney make further changes?

 He passed away in 1966, so I guess you are safe.

We want you to be aware that we have no plans—now or in the future—to restore the earlier versions. 

Sincerely, Lynne Hale publicity@lucasfilm.com

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Besides, what else is there to change? They'd need a whole map of George's mind.

Ol’ George has the GOUT, I see.

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If Disney doesn't release the OOT, how are they any better than Lucas?

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 (Edited)

CO said:

Just look how they re-shaped Episode 7 from Lucas/Arndt's first draft, as they are making Han, Luke and Leia more prominent in the movie.

That seems like a change for the worse.

真実

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I just sat in on a business lunch at Lucasfilm in san francisco with a marketing agent.  The topic of rights to Star Wars films came up and she confirmed that Fox owns episodes I-V until 2020 and episode IV forever.  She seemed to believe that as of now, disney receives no income from the current home releases.  When Fox's rights expire in 2020 she mentioned that disney will probably rerelease the movies under their own banner but made it pretty clear that there are no advantages to doing it earlier.  Even when they are released again, it seems unlikely that disney would put in the effort to make the original versions available in high quality.  From a business stand point there is simply no reason to do this.  They are more focused on moving forward with the new movies and Rebels it seems.  This is all speculation from a semi-reliable source so I am taking this info with a grain of salt.  Of course there are other people in the company that have much more information than she does but the possibility of a release seem even more unlikely to me now :(

I did see John Knoll and Dave Filloni in the cafeteria while I was at Lucasfilm So that was Kind of exciting!

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