MonkeyLizard10 said:
Barfolomew said:
I increasingly get the feeling one day we’re finally gonna get our hands on the full 70mm cut for viewing and discover it’s virtually identical to the later cut we’re familiar with aside from the redone final scene. I have a theory that the other supposed differences actually come from one of the prints that mistakenly got sent out with “unfinished effects” shots that we’ve also heard murmurs about over the years.
It’s just a hunch and a guess, I could definitely be wrong, but every time we get a chance to see/ hear some more of the 70mm version the expected differences never seem to materialize.
Well it seems you were wrong (although perhaps not about the accidental less finished or not meant to be released ones, that stuff is still open question). Even more wild, it is now proven that there were at least two different versions of ESB in 70mm alone!
I still wonder about a few of the initial batch 70mm for Star Wars…
Yep, there’s also this news footage from opening day 1980 includes shots of the screening itself that don’t appear to match the “A” print. I feel pretty confident that it wouldn’t match the “B” print either (I think that one was probably prepared for a later international release, so it conforms to the 35mm cut) and probably represents the “A” print but with the completed effects… but unless we find more prints, we’ll probably never know for sure!
https://youtu.be/M_C5tAUKlGc?si=DApA0jF7g67cg2JE
DarthSmaul said:
For those unaware a while ago the Blast Points podcast was able to view a print of the 70mm version and confirm the differences:
https://blastpointspodcast.com/2024/01/30/episode-387-the-70mm-empire-strikes-back-experience/
I also came across this video discussing some of the changes and it seems to show some legitimate footage:
https://youtu.be/FbezmT4crf8?si=iXGhH9wa_nYl0guC
Yeah, Team Negative One (the guys who’ve released the 4K files of the original trilogy theatrical prints) managed to get their hands on two 70mm ESB prints last year and are currently working on remastering them. Those podcasts/vids likely received raw grindhouse scans.
Honestly it’s big enough news I’ve been tempted to start a new thread about it, but so far I’ve held off because it feels like there’s an air of discretion about it, like they don’t want too much attention until they know the prints can’t be traced back to their owners (I don’t know for sure, I’m just guessing). Exciting stuff, though!